Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what data her Department holds on the (a) number of applications for valuations of any type by the District Valuer that took longer than (i) three, (ii) six and (iii) 12 months to be completed from the point of application, by type of valuation and (b) the average timeframe for processing applications, in the latest period for which data is available; and if she will make a comparative estimate of the average timeframe for processing requests from NHS organisations.

The Valuation Office Agency's (VOA) District Valuer Services (DVS) provides independent, impartial, valuation and professional property advice across the entire public sector, and where public money or public functions are involved. In 2023-24 in total DVS received around 24,500 separate case requests, spread across 139 different case types. The length of time taken to complete a case varies depending on case type and complexity. The VOA does not hold data broken down into timeliness figures for the timeframes specified and as a comparison across all case types.

In 2023-24 the VOA handled around 3,400 cases relating to NHS premises, including over 2,900 cases relating to reimbursement of GP premises costs. Specifically, for cases related to reimbursement of GP premises costs, 55% were completed by DVS in under 3 months, 26% were completed between 3 and 6 months, 15% completed between 6 and 12 months, and 4% took over 12 months to complete. On average it took 121 days to complete a reimbursement of GP premises cost case, including negotiations with GPs and their advisers, so timeframes are not solely within the VOA’s control.