Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many businesses in (a) Barnsley East constituency and (b) Yorkshire and the Humber have qualified for the full business rates discount to date.

We have introduced a £1 billion business rate support package for 2014-15 including:

– a 2% cap in the Retail Price Index increase in the small business rates multiplier;

– a retail discount of £1,000 for around 300,000 shops, pubs and restaurants with rateable values below £50,000;

– a 12 month extension of small business rate relief doubling, benefitting over half a million businesses;

– a 50 per cent discount for new occupants of long-term vacant shops, and;

– allowing ratepayers to pay bills over 12 instalments.

As outlined in the Written Ministerial Statement of 18 September 2012, Official Report, Column 32WS, the Department no longer publishes statistics by government office region. Additionally, the Department does not collect data on a constituency basis, but Barnsley East constituency lies entirely within the Barnsley Metropolitan District. Table 1 shows, where available, the estimated number of properties that will benefit from each of the reliefs introduced or extended in 2014-15 in Barnsley Metropolitan District, as well as the amount of relief awarded: