Non-Domestic Rates: Empty Property

Justine Greening
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate has been made of the number of properties on which empty property business rate relief was claimed in each region in 2009.

Barbara Follett
Details of the number of properties on which empty property business rate relief was claimed in each region in England as at 31 December 2008, the latest date for which data are available, are given in the following table:

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|                        |Number of properties claiming empty property relief as at 31 December 2008 (Thousand)|
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|North East              |7.6                                                                                  |
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|North West              |27.6                                                                                 |
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|Yorkshire and the Humber|17.1                                                                                 |
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|East Midlands           |12.2                                                                                 |
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|West Midlands           |18.2                                                                                 |
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|East of England         |15.0                                                                                 |
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|London                  |20.8                                                                                 |
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|South East              |15.8                                                                                 |
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|South West              |13.6                                                                                 |
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|Total England           |147.9                                                                                |
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Data as at 31 December 2009 will be available later in 2010.