We recently conducted a consultation on our approach to the implementation of 100% Business Rates Retention. There were over 450 responses from local authorities, businesses interests and other organisations. My officials are currently considering these and we will publish a summary of the responses and our proposed way forward in due course. In the meantime, we will continue close collaboration with local government in taking this work forward, including through the Business Rates Retention Steering Group, which is jointly chaired by the Local Government Association and the Department for Communities and Local Government.<\/p>
The Steering Group was established to consider the mechanisms needed to set up and run the new business rates system, as well as the timetable and implementation of the reforms. It oversees the work of a set of technical working groups, each looking at particular aspects of the reforms. The Group meets on a regular basis and has done so on 6 occasions since April 2016. All papers for meetings are published here: http://www.local.gov.uk/business-rates<\/a><\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4024", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Mr Marcus Jones"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Nuneaton"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Mr Marcus Jones"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2016-11-24", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2016-11-24T16:42:17.153Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "7"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Communities and Local Government"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Communities and Local Government"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2016-11-16", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Non-domestic Rates"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what recent discussions he has had with local authorities on 100 per cent business rate retention; and if he will make a statement.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/3960", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Henry Smith"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Crawley"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Henry Smith"} ], "uin" : "53475"} ], "itemsPerPage" : 10, "page" : 0, "startIndex" : 1, "totalResults" : 1, "type" : ["http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#ListEndpoint", "http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#Page"]} }