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Written question asked by Baroness Rebuck (Labour) on Tuesday, 9 October 2018, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 23 October 2018. It was answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative) on Monday, 22 October 2018 on behalf of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

Bookshops: Non-domestic Rates

Question

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of recent increases in business rates on the sustainability of local high street bookshops in England.

Answer

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has not made an assessment of the impact of the revaluation on bookshops. The Government has introduced a range of business rates reforms and measures to support businesses, including bookshops, worth over £10 billion by 2023.

This includes, from April 2017, permanently doubling Small Business Rate Relief and raising the threshold for relief meaning that over 600,000 small businesses now pay no business rates at all, and helping all business by switching the measure of inflation, used for the indexation of rates, from Retail Price Index to Consumer Price Index.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
HL10512
Session
2017-19
Subjects
Business rates Bookshops
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk