Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the valuation of properties under the Non-Domestic Rating (Definition of Domestic Property) (Wales) Order 2010, what guidance his Department has issued to the Valuation Office Agency on non-domestic properties that have been let out to key workers during the covid-19 pandemic; and what discussions he has had with representatives from the Welsh Government on that matter.

Business rates and ratings are devolved in Wales, and are therefore a matter for the Welsh Government.

In England, to be classed as non-domestic property the owner must have made the property available for commercial short-term letting for at least 140 days in the last year; to have actually let it for a total of at least 70 days; and have arranged for it to be available on the same basis over the next 12 months.