Business Rates (Hansard, 5 June 1997)

§ 7. Mr. Bernard Jenkin
To ask the President of the Board of Trade what representations she has received from businesses concerning the future of business rates. [661]

§ Mrs. Roche
To date, my departmental colleagues and I have not received any formal representations from businesses on the future of business rates. However, we have given a manifesto commitment to return to locally set business rates and will be consulting widely on how that might be implemented.

§ Mr. Jenkin
Does the hon. Lady agree that small businesses already pay too much in business rates?

§ Mrs. Roche
I certainly agree that the unified business rate introduced by the previous Government, of which the hon. Gentleman was a supporter, is widely loathed and is an unfair tax, according to the "Your Business Matters" conference, as reported by the Institute of Directors. We need a system that is fair to business and does not place an undue burden on small businesses.

Mr. William O'Brien
When considering the future of the uniform business rate, will the Minister have a word with her colleagues about those businesses which have their rates assessed on turnover rather than profit? They are at a disadvantage because the margin is so low that in many areas they face tremendous problems in sustaining their business. In many instances, it is a question of valuation. I appeal to my hon. Friend to have a word with her colleagues at the Department of the Environment about business rates and the assessments that take place from time to time which are unfair to many small businesses.

§ Mrs. Roche
My hon. Friend raises some important points and I can assure him that they will all be taken into consideration as part of the consultation exercise.

§ Mr. Nicholls
Does it not follow from what the hon. Lady said to my hon. Friend the Member for North Essex (Mr. Jenkin) that she will be minded to pick up a proposal made in the Conservative party manifesto that the burden of rates should be shifted so that smaller business pays less and greater business pays more, or is it simply that the hon. Lady's apparent conservatism goes no further than rhetoric?

§ Mrs. Roche
I am astonished at what the hon. Gentleman says. He supported a Government who 538 introduced the uniform business rate, which has been widely criticised by business. It was his hon. Friend the Member for North Essex (Mr. Jenkin) who produced a document called "Fairer Business Rates", and his right hon. Friend the Member for Huntingdon (Mr. Major), the former Prime Minister, who described the uniform business rate as an unfair burden. The present Government are determined to do something to help our business community and I am sure that we shall have the hon. Gentleman's support as a result.