Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by the Financial Secretary to the Treasury on 12 February (218387), what are the measures and reforms which have led to the cuts to business rates in England that are worth more than £13 billion over the next five years; and what are the anticipated amounts attributable to each such measure and reform in each year of that period.

Government has announced support for ratepayers in the form of more generous Small Business Rate Relief, linking the multiplier to CPI rather than RPI inflation, a new retail discount, raising the threshold for the standard multiplier, and a range of other smaller reliefs. In total, these measures are estimated to be worth over £13bn between 2019-20 and 2023-24.

This figure includes approximately £6bn for making 100% Small Business Rate Relief permanent and raising the thresholds of the relief from 2017; around £6bn for switching from RPI to CPI inflation from 2018; £0.9bn for the two-year retail discount from 2019; and an estimated £0.5bn for raising the threshold of the standard multiplier from 2017.