SMALL BUSINESS RATE RELIEF

That this House welcomes the current initiative to provide business rate relief to businesses that occupy a single property or several properties where the rateable values are less than £2,200; but notes that this excludes many important high street businesses which, although relatively small, operate from two or more properties; and therefore calls on the Government to extend small business rate relief to cover enterprises which have a turnover of less than £500,000 in addition to the current eligibility criteria.