§ Mr. SweeneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement on the consultation exercise undertaken on his proposals for rate relief for village shops. [39335]
§ Mr. Jonathan EvansFollowing the commitment given by my right hon. Friend in January this year, 325 copies of the consultation paper were issued to local authorities and to a wide range of organisations and many individuals who expressed an interest: 93 responses were received. Of these, 54 comment on the definition of a rural area for the purposes of the scheme and 18 suggest additional communities which should be included. We have carefully considered these responses and decided to include an additional 48 communities. The list will now comprise of all those communities which meet the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development definition of rurality, based on low population density, and all those communities which have a population in total of 3,000 or less and which border one or more communities which meet the OECD definition. This will bring in communities such as Llanrug in Gwynedd and Faenor in Ceredigion.
A list of respondents to the consultation paper has been placed in the Library of the House, with the name of a person in the Welsh Office from whom copies of individual responses can be obtained. A list of communities to be covered by the rate of relief scheme, has also been placed in the Library of the House.
Decisions on other aspects of the scheme will be announced in due course.