12:00 pm
Julian Lyon: From the point of view of the £50,000 threshold, or whatever the threshold is, it is important to understand how business rates work in the market to establish whether the threshold is an appropriate mechanism. For example, a six-storey office building might have a major plc occupying two floors, each of the floors being less than the £50,000 threshold and in two separate hereditaments—the plc would fall below the threshold on both of them. There may be a department that has two floors, but on a single lease or hereditament, it would fall within the scheme. A small business on two floors of the same building would also be caught by the threshold. The threshold itself is relatively arbitrary, particularly when you look at it against the individual hereditaments.