Non-Domestic Rates

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate has been made of the likely amount to be billed to businesses in each region in national non-domestic rates in (a) total and (b) respect of properties experiencing a rates reduction as a result of the planned transitional relief scheme in (i) 2010-11, (ii) 2011-12, (iii) 2012-13, (iv) 2013-14 and (v) 2014-15. (303653)

No estimates of the likely bills have been made, as these contain not only transitional relief but all other reliefs, some determined at the billing authorities’ discretion. Therefore it is not possible to estimate the likely bill of a hereditament.

For the purpose of modelling the 2010 transitional relief scheme, the Notional Chargeable Amount (NCA) was calculated. The NCA for a given year is the product of the rateable value and that year’s small business multiplier. The NCA is then compared to the previous year’s reference value increased by the caps. The minimum of these two values was used as a proxy for the bill after transition but before all other reliefs. Details on the methodology and assumptions used can be found on page 49 of the “Transitional arrangements for the non-domestic rating revaluation 2010 in England” consultation document. These include zero inflation, which does not reflect the latest information available, and adjustments for appeals.

A copy of the consultation document is available at the following link:

http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/localgovemment/nndrrevaluation2010

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much was billed to businesses in each region for national non-domestic rates in 2008-09; and what estimate he has made of the equivalent figures in 2009-10. (303654)

The net amount of non-domestic rates that should have been collected in 2008-09 after reliefs, in each region in England, are given in the following table.

Data for 2009-10 are not yet available.

*Estimated net collectable debit in respect of 2008-09 non-domestic rates*
	£000
North East	724,119
North West	2,287,952
Yorkshire and the Humber	1,647,167
East Midlands¹	1,368,470
West Midlands	1,806,357
East of England	1,965,847
London	5,057,209
South East	3,102,642
SouthWest¹	1,545,321
Total England	19,505,084
¹ Data for Harborough and Isle of Scilly are estimated as their QRC4 returns were not received in time for inclusion in the statistical release. Source: QRC4 Quarterly Return of Council Tax and Non-domestic rates 2008-09.

These data are also available in Table 3 of the statistical release “Collection rates for council tax and non-domestic rates in England 2008-09”, which was published on 25 June 2009 and is available on the Communities and Local Government website at:

www.communities.gov.uk/localgovernment/localregional/localgovernmentfinance/statistics/counciltax/collectionrates

Volume 501: debated on Wednesday 2 December 2009