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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the recent business rates revaluation, what are the average changes affecting (1) rural businesses, and (2) urban businesses.

Revaluation will mean that nearly three quarters of business will see their bills stay the same or fall, and from April 2017, 600,000 small businesses will pay no business rates at all. The Government introduced a £3.6 billion package of transitional relief to support businesses affected by revaluation. To support businesses in rural areas, the Government is doubling rural rate relief from 50 per cent to 100 per cent from 1st April 2017. The Department does not hold information on whether a particular business is rural or urban.