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Business Rate Supplements Bill

I certainly accept the point that it is difficult in the current climate; I have no argument against that. That is why for this financial year those properties with a rateable value of less than £15,000 will be exempt. That is why it captures so much. The noble Lord is right that these concerns are very difficult at the moment. I may be able to reassure him, because the current draft of the Bill leaves it to the levying authorities to determine whether liability for BRS should extend to the empty properties in an area. They have that discretion. That will be part of the negotiation that is possible between the levying authorities and local businesses. It is very much appropriate, not least in the areas that the noble Lord is so familiar with and has been describing, that the decision should be made at local level. The right approach will depend on the specific nature of the project and the local area. The local authority can, if it so wishes, exempt empty properties. The safeguards in the Bill apply equally both to occupied and unoccupied properties. Both will benefit from the £50,000 threshold. Both will benefit from the 2p upper limit. I would have thought that it would be possible—I will have to check this—to have a different rate for empty properties. It may be possible to vary the rate. If the noble Lord will allow me, I will come back to him on that. I am not certain of my ground there. If a levying authority wants to levy its BRS on the owners of empty properties, they will certainly have to be consulted in the same way, and if it goes above a third of the total cost they would be entitled to vote. Crucially, just as we have mirrored the reliefs of BRS alongside NDR, we are trying to establish consistency wherever we can, and this approach mirrors our approach to NDR. Rates are now paid on occupied and empty properties, but we are leaving it to the discretion of levying authorities to decide in this case whether to exempt owners of empty properties. I hope on that basis there will be some comfort for the noble Lord in relation to his amendment.