Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will reinstate the Environmental, Protective and Cultural Services county sparsity indicator in the relative needs formulae. [123538]

Brandon Lewis, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Department for Communities and Local Government: The Technical Consultation on Business Rates Retention, which included proposals regarding sparsity, ended on 24 September 2012. We are now considering responses received to our proposals ahead of the 2013-14 Local Government Finance Settlement.

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what research his Department has carried out on the significance of population sparsity on the cost of delivering services in predominantly rural areas. [123539]

Brandon Lewis, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Department for Communities and Local Government: The additional costs of delivering services in rural areas were discussed as part of the work of the Baseline Sub Group of local authority representatives and departmental officials, and the outcomes of this work were reflected in the proposals on sparsity that featured in our recent technical consultation on Business Rates Retention. This follows related discussions on sparsity with other working groups in previous years.

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