Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how his Department defines rurality.

The Rural Urban Classification is an Official Statistic used to distinguish rural and urban areas. The Classification defines areas as rural if they are outside settlements with more than 10,000 resident population.

Wherever possible, the Rural Urban Classification should be used for statistical analysis. Further details can be found at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ gov.uk page at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/rural-urban-classification.