To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate he has made of the number of empty (a) residential and (b) commercial properties in (i) Mid Sussex constituency and (ii) Mid Sussex local authority area in the last five years. (314782)

The number of empty residential properties in the Mid Sussex local authority area in 2005 to 2009 is shown in the following table.

The data are both short-term and long-term empty dwellings as reported annually by all billing authorities in England in October of the year. Data are not available at a constituency level.

The Department is planning to publish experimental official statistics in February on the number of hereditaments benefiting from small business rate relief and the number of empty hereditaments. This statistical release will provide a national estimate for the number of empty non-domestic properties in England.