Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many small firms and shops have benefited from reductions in business rates in (a) England and (b) Crawley constituency.

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.

The Department does not collect data on a constituency basis, but the Crawley constituency lies entirely within the Crawley Borough Council boundary. Table 1 (attached) shows, where available, the estimated number of properties that will benefit from each of the reliefs introduced or extended in 2014-15 within Crawley Borough Council, as well as the amount of relief awarded. Table 2 (attached) provides the same data, but for England as a whole.