Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of proposed changes to business rates on NHS hospital and GP practice services in England.

Changes to the business rate system include the recent revaluation and the move to 100% business rates retention.

The Valuation Office Agency is responsible for revaluations and setting rateable values for business rates, from which local authorities calculate the business rates bill.

Each National Health Service organisation is responsible for ensuring their current rating assessments and any recent changes thereto are correct and for challenging them if necessary. As with other ratepayers, NHS bodies may be able to seek transitional relief. The Department has not made a national assessment of the overall impact, and no specific additional funding is being provided beyond the £10 billion of real terms growth by 2020/21.

The Ministerial team has not met with counterparts at the Department for Communities and Local Government to discuss revaluation. The move to business rates was discussed at the time of the Spending Review. Officials are in regular contact to discuss detailed implications, such as the possible inclusion of authority social care and public health functions under the new system.