§ Brian CotterTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will estimate the number of businesses in England and Wales that would benefit from the proposed rate relief for small businesses with a rateable value of less than £8,000 as outlined in the Green Paper, 'Modernising Local Government Finance'. [2591]
§ Dr. WhiteheadThe Green Paper 'Modernising Local Government Finance' (September 2000) applied to England only. The National Assembly for Wales set out its proposals in 'Simplifying the System: Local Government Finance in Wales' (September 2000).
The Green Paper proposal was that in England there should be relief of 50 per cent. for properties with rateable values up to £3,000, with the relief then tapering off, so that properties with rateable values of £6,000 would get 20 per cent. relief, and those with rateable values above £8,000 would get no relief.
529WThere are 977,000 properties in England with rateable values of £8,000 and less. Of these 474,000 have rateable values of £3,000 or less. However the Green Paper also suggested that small properties owned by large businesses might be excluded from the relief scheme, if this could be done without excessive administrative complexity.
In the light of the responses to the Green Paper, and further discussions we have been holding with business organisations, we will be setting out our decisions on the relief scheme in a White Paper later this year.