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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to ensure that vacant commercial properties owned by institutional landlords do not inhibit small businesses' access to affordable premises.

This Government is committed to revitalising our high streets and tackling vacancy. To that end, we have introduced High Street Rental Auctions, new powers for local authorities to bring vacant units back into use by auctioning the lease. We anticipate this will increase cooperation between landlords and local authorities regarding vacant units and make town centre tenancies more accessible and affordable for tenants, including SMEs and local businesses.