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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the proposed business rates retention reset on (a) councils with high business growth and (b) future incentives for high business growth.

The Business Rates Retention System was designed to be “reset” periodically to update the way it redistributes locally retained business rates between local authorities – a core aspect of the system. The reset will fundamentally improve the way we fund local authorities, ensuring funding is targeted where it is needed most, based on an updated assessment of need. As set out in the Fair Funding Review 2.0 consultation, to smooth the delivery of the reset the government is proposing to offer increased protection to local authorities’ business rates income across the multi-year settlement period – further detail will be set out at the Policy Statement.

By fixing these foundations, the sector will be better placed to invest in and drive local growth. Business rates growth that comes on stream after the reset would be retained for the duration of the future reset period, continuing to reward authorities for local business rates growth.