Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how the Government defines rurality.

There is an official statistical rural urban classification, based on the 2011 Census, which determines settlements with populations of 10,000 or more as urban. Further details of the rural urban classification can be found at:

www.gov.uk/government/collections/rural-urban-classification

The rural urban classification is intended to support statistical analysis. Other definitions of rural could be more appropriate in some policy or analytical contexts.