Speeches by Tomlinson.

“Because of taxpayer confidentiality we are not allowed to ask about specific individual businesses—and it would not be right for me to do it—but we get a really comprehensive set of figures from the VOA, analysed by the officials at HMRC, which will say, for example, “Minister, this many businesses will come into the b…”

“I would be very happy if you come back to me after 3 March.”

“The first thing I would say—this is a challenge to say to an individual business, but for members of the Committee it is worth being aware of the overall changes that are taking place in the business rates system—is that 59% of retail, hospitality and leisure properties will see their bills either falling or flat. It i…”

“The changes that we made at the Budget are significant—the £900 million shift away. The business rates system is still here. We are not saying now that in future Budgets the system will be abolished in its entirety, but we are looking at what we can do to significantly lower the burden on high street businesses, and we…”

“That change is the first time that we have had the possibility within the business rates system to set different tax rates for high street properties and larger properties—the online giants. As I said in the statement, that now means that the gap between the smallest high street properties and the largest properties is…”

“Thank you, Chair, for giving me the chance to talk about this important topic with you. The significant change that we made at the Budget was to introduce a differential—”

“It is certainly something I will be willing to consider.”

“We will have more Budgets in this Parliament, of course. This revaluation will go on for three years, so until 2029. Alongside that, the other reform we will introduce, which I am sure there will be questions on, is to make changes to the valuation methodology for some sectors, some of which we said we will look at bef…”

“Shared offices is, again, another sector with issues that I have been focusing on. I have met with the sector to talk about the changes that are coming down the track for some of them. This is less about the unwind from the pandemic, or changes since the pandemic, and more about changes in case law, in terms of how oth…”

“Not other than to say that they will be set out in the usual way. We will make sure they are set out clearly in the spring forecast on 3 March, which is now just a couple of weeks away. It will apply in line with the statement of funding policy in the usual way because this is a fully devolved system.”

“It is difficult for me to comment on timelines for this, because in part it depends on the fiscal position in future Budgets and the competing priorities, which your Committee is more aware of than most people, that will be on the Government. We are seeing borrowing fall in every year, and that is the sort of thing tha…”

“No, the caps are in place for the whole period of the revaluation. The previous Government’s plan was to stop some of these changes between revaluations. We have clearly set out that, until April 2029, which is the planned date for the next revaluation, these caps will be in place. Of course, there are caps again next …”

“It certainly is not, no. One thing we have sought to do is make sure that we have put caps in across the whole system this time.”

“Yes, £34 billion. That is a lot of money; that is a very significant share of the tax revenues that we pull in. That is broadly the same as was forecast, before the spring statement, for next year. Some people want to make the point that this is a very significant tax rise overall. Actually, this year coming, after we …”

“If they are valued at less than £100,000 and they are already in the business rates system, their bills will be capped at 15%. Even if their rateable value has tripled and it is right at the very end of the distribution of changes in value, which is rare—I believe that only a very small percentage have seen their ratea…”

“That is one of the big challenges with the business rates system. There are so many different sectors with so many different pressures and challenges. That is why, overall, we came forward with the changes to transitional relief and the supporting small business scheme. I do not know about individual businesses, but if…”

“The main thing to be aware of on business rates is that I believe that, net, this year coming, they will raise £34 billion. Dr Dickinson indicated assent.”

“I am always happy to receive correspondence on these matters. You asked about recording studios in the House. One of the key things for the relief is that venues are “reasonably accessible to visiting members of the public”. As recording studios are not generally open to members of the public in the same way as a pub o…”

“This is difficult. It is definitely not easy to draw a line in the system and give relief to some businesses and properties and not others. First, the guidance that we have used draws significantly—in fact, in many places it is a carbon copy—on the guidance that was published for councils when the previous Government i…”

“As I say, particularly for high street businesses, there has been a lot of chopping and changing every single year for the last decade. I don’t know whether it happened before, too, in the years since 1988 or whenever. That is the sort of thing that we want to move away from with high street businesses. That is why we …”