Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Impact Note on removal of eligibility of private schools for business rates charitable relief, published on 30 October 2024, for what reasons the Government did not model the impact on economic growth.

Policies and legislation concerning tax and tax administration fall outside the meaning of regulatory provisions and, therefore, are not required to be accompanied by an Impact Assessment.

Nevertheless, the government has conducted detailed analysis of the effects of business rates changes using the available Department for Education and Valuation Office Agency data.

The impact note published on 13 November 2024, alongside the introduction of the Non-Domestic Rating (Multipliers and Private Schools) Bill, provides detailed analysis of the average business rates change per pupil for private schools; distributional analysis by region, religious ethos, and pupil population; as well as anticipated pupil movements, associated costs, and equalities impacts.

The methodology for calculating the cost of this change has been certified by the independent Office for Budget Responsibility. The estimation of impacts, such as pupil movements, follows from that methodology.

The OBR's economic forecast in October modelled the macroeconomic impacts of the Budget package, including the measures relating to private schools.