Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the viability of amending the Valuation for Rating (Plant and Machinery) (England) Regulations 2000 in relation to the 2017 business rates revaluation that is being conducted by the Valuation Office Agency; and how that revaluation will affect rooftop solar.

Business rates are based on valuations from the Valuation Office Agency and we do not intervene in their independent assessments. Well established principles, as set out in the Valuation for Rating (Plant and Machinery) Regulations 2000, determine when plant and machinery, such as rooftop solar, should be rateable and included in assessments. We have no plans to change these principles. However, we have proposed a £3.4 billion transitional relief scheme to ensure that no ratepayer is unfairly penalised by the 2017 revaluation.