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

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether he has made an assessment of the effect of the level of business rates on NHS budgets.

Any healthcare provider which is a charity and using their property wholly or mainly for charitable purposes will be entitled to 80% mandatory rate relief. Charities in the healthcare sector make an important contribution to our society and it is right they should benefit from mandatory rate relief.

NHS properties, like almost all other buildings occupied by public bodies, have been subject to non-domestic rates since they were introduced. Operational costs related to property are taken into account at spending reviews in determining the overall level of funding for the NHS.

A £3.6 billion transitional relief scheme will provide support for the minority of properties which face an increase in rates as a result of the 2017 revaluation, and applies equally to public bodies such as the NHS.