To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the Valuation Office Agency undertakes valuations of church halls hired out for social events unconnected with religious worship; and whether premises thus used are liable for business rates. (308635)

As stated in the Local Government Finance Act 1988, if Church halls, chapel halls and similar buildings are used in connection with a place of public religious worship and for the purposes of the organisation responsible for the conduct of public religious worship, they are, like the church or place of public religious worship, exempt from business rates. This exemption usually extends to where they are hired out for social events.