To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate he has made of the number of properties in West Lancashire constituency which have been empty for more than (a) two and (b) five years. (317777)

This information for either domestic or non-domestic properties is not held centrally.

Our reforms to empty property relief for non-domestic are principled and right for the long-term. They provide a strong incentive on owners to bring empty property back into use, helping to improve access to premises for businesses and so to exert a downward pressure on commercial rents.

However, we provided owners with real help to manage short-term pressures in a difficult property market by exempting all empty properties with rateable values up to £15,000 from business rates in 2009-10.

We have listened to the continued concerns of owners and we are extending the temporary measure for a further 12 months—to cover the whole of 2010-11—and we are uprating the threshold to £18,000 in line with the general movement of property values at revaluation.