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

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he has taken to review the rating system for fibre networks in order to remove disadvantages for new operators.

All properties including new and existing fibre telecom networks are valued for business rates to the same standard of annual rental value. Rateable values are assessed independently by the Valuation Office Agency and may be challenged in the courts. The Upper Tribunal, the Court of Appeal and the European Commission have all supported the Valuation Office Agency’s valuation method for telecom networks.