Debate contribution: Reval2026

Debate contribution by Mr John O'Dowd on 2 February 2026.

MLA

Mr John O'Dowd

Party at the time

Sinn Féin

Date

2 February 2026

Type

Debate contribution (made as a minister)

Business

Ministerial Statement

Heading

Reval2026

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5356225

Read the official Assembly record

Text

A U-turn that is carried out in a safe manner is part of the Highway Code: the political highway code and the Roads Order. I am sure that the former police officer across the Chamber has examined it more closely. What is important is where we are at now. I listened to the concerns of elected representatives and the hospitality sector and have stopped the revaluation process. I met the sector last Thursday. Its representatives said that they will bring proposals to me. I have offered them the services of my officials. If we have constructive engagement, I believe that we will be able to move forward. Any future method that we use to evaluate rates, however, must be open, fair and transparent, and it must meet the needs of our public sector and the wider economy.

Following my engagement with the hospitality sector last Thursday, it is going to produce proposals for a way forward. I have said that my officials will engage with the sector in a constructive way. If we continue to engage with each other constructively, we will be able to find a landing zone in which everyone accepts that they are being treated fairly and in an open and transparent manner. The objective is to ensure that we have a rates base that supports not only our businesses but our public services and the wider economy.

Hansard will speak for itself. I know that a week is a long time in politics, but it is a long time in history as well, because history is being rewritten as we stand here today. My comments, and those of Members, are clearly recorded in Hansard. I said last week that the methodology that my officials used was correct. It was correctly used. The outcome of that methodology's usage has caused deep concern in the hospitality sector. I have reacted to that concern, as I should, but the evidence base is firm, solid, open and transparent. If it is to be replaced, what replaces it must also be firm, solid, open and transparent.

As I said, I met representatives of the hospitality sector last week. It is going to produce proposals. I will consider them with an open mind to see what the best way forward is for what is a very important policy area for the entire Executive and our economy. I am open-minded about any proposals that come forward, but, at the risk of repeating myself, the method used to evaluate rates will have to be open and fair to all sectors of our economy. If we can work on that basis, I have no doubt that we will make progress.

At the start of the Reval process in April 2024, all businesses were contacted with area-specific questionnaires, which they were asked to return. For a variety of reasons, unfortunately only 30% of those were returned by the hospitality sector . When you do not get a return from a specific business, valuers then look at returns to Companies House, evidence of the premises around the individual property and the trading relationships and market values in the area. They look at a wide range of factors, which are evidence-based, and then determine the rateable value of the property. That is a firm basis upon which to operate, but, ideally, if each business returns its evaluation, it will be allowed to tell its own story. That was the bone of contention in the Chamber last week. In the absence of those evaluations, there are sound sources of evidence upon which to make your decisions.

The Member will have heard my opening remarks on the small business rate relief consultation that we have just conducted. My officials are analysing the results of that. A factor that has been lost in the noise is that, in acknowledgement of the Reval that was taking place and of the information that I had to hand, I set aside £10 million in the draft Budget to support small and medium-sized business. My vision for that £10 million was that it would assist those businesses that are the most challenged by the economic circumstances in which they operate. As part of an ongoing programme of work, around a quarter of a billion pounds of rate relief is offered to businesses here in recognition of the value that they bring to our society and economy and the challenges that they face. I will continue to analyse how I, in my role as Finance Minister, can support our small and medium-sized businesses.

There is a sector average, and there is a variety of different sectors in the valuation list. Some properties will be above that sector average and some will be below it. That will be for a variety of reasons, but it will be down to the characteristics of each business. Now that the Reval has stopped, there is little opportunity at this initial stage to query what individual businesses have been facing. However, I am sure that LPS will be open to a discussion with you, if those businesses are content for you to represent them, to help you understand the varying characteristics and why those businesses in your locality are so far above the average. However, it will be about the characteristics of the individual business.

It will require consultation. I am keen to get out to consultation, but I suspect that it will be the spring before we can go out to consultation on that matter. However, it is an important policy direction for us to go in, because we obviously want to see our businesses expand, both in turnover and in physical capacity and size. One factor as to why some businesses see a dramatic increase in their rates, be it 100%, 200% or 300%, is that they have increased in size. In many cases, it is down to the fact that a business has put on a major physical expansion. As part of the proposals that I want to consult on, such businesses would be given a grace period on their rates for those expansions to allow them to absorb the cost of the building as they move forward with their business plans. I will consult on it in the spring.

I noted last week that many Members were pictured with pints in hand in pubs and hospitality businesses across the North.

First, I hope that they bought them out of their own pocket; and secondly, I hope that they bought the other people in the bar a drink as well and left a few pounds behind the till for the staff There is an old adage that there are no answers to be found in the bottom of a pint glass. I enjoy a pint or two myself, so I will not criticise anybody for having a pint. There are no answers in the bottom of a pint glass, but there are answers in delivering a three-year Budget. As part of the first year of the Budget, I have set aside £10 million to support small and medium enterprises, including those in the hospitality sector, in recognition of the challenges and opportunities that they face. Advocacy is important, supporting our local businesses as MLAs is important and speaking up is important, but the practical measure is to get a three-year Budget over the line and to make sure that, as part of that three-year Budget, there is a package to support our small and medium enterprises.

The figures were first presented to me in October 2025. There were a number of meetings between officials and me following that, right up until the publication of the figures. Reval is a stand-alone process, so an economic assessment going side by side with it would not be part of the role of the Department of Finance nor, indeed, LPS. I knew the first time that I saw the figures that there would be a challenge, but I also believe in openness and transparency in government. I thought that it was only right and proper that the process was completed and that the figures were published. In addition, as part of my preparations for the draft Budget, I set aside £10 million to help businesses with the challenges that they face, not only from Reval but from other pressures. I was aware of the figures; I knew the challenges that they would bring; and, in my own way, I took action in the draft Budget.

As I said to the previous questioner, I was aware of the figures in October 2025. I was aware of the challenges that they would bring to the hospitality sector and other sectors, and the opportunities that they would bring for some in those sectors. The conversation, perhaps understandably, has been solely around hospitality.

Many other sectors were revalued as part of the process. Members may have received correspondence from some that feel that their voices have not been heard in the debate. Let us talk about the reval in its totality, rather than about individual sectors in it. I believe in openness and transparency in government. LPS carried out the service. It was published, and we have seen the reaction to it. It was not published in a vacuum. I published it in the knowledge that I had money set aside in the draft Budget to help and support business. I do not suggest that that would have completely alleviated the pressures that businesses were under, but I had already taken action in that regard. The response to the publication meant that we would not have been able to have the cool, level-headed debate and discussion that we required, so I have taken the decision to stop it. We will now engage more with the hospitality sector; indeed, I suspect that other sectors will want to — and should — have their voices heard in this as well.

As I have said to other MLAs in the Chamber, Hansard has been printed. There is a video of the debate. Everybody is aware of what was and was not said. I can understand Members' desire to rewrite history, but you cannot rewrite it —

You cannot rewrite it that quickly. Did I mislead the House? No, I did not, on any occasion. I gave you information to assist your constituents, and the challenge that I put to you was this: I said that the best advice that you could give your constituents at that stage was to engage with LPS if they believed that their revaluation was not based on the correct figures. The process that was followed leading up to Reval2026 was sound. The challenge for us was the removal of the COVID support grants for businesses, which dated back to 2021. There was such a dramatic rise for some businesses that it was a challenge. However, I had already taken action and had put money aside in the draft Budget to help businesses. I had been going through reviews of small business rate relief schemes and other ways to support our businesses. The decision was not taken in a vacuum; it was taken in the knowledge that a challenge existed and that Ministers have to take action in those circumstances. I believe in open and transparent government. The report was finalised, and I believed that it deserved to be published.

Reviews are taking place in Scotland and England, and, back in November, I said in the Chamber that I would take cognisance of those in deciding how we would move forward with future revals. As I have said, I met the hospitality sector on Thursday, and I am committed to having further engagement and working on any proposals that it is prepared to bring forward. My officials are happy to engage on that, but, if Members are going to make such definitive statements in the Chamber, there is a responsibility on them to bring forward proposals as well. If you are strongly of that view, there is a responsibility on the official Opposition to bring forward a counterproposal.

The Member will be that aware that I am going through a review of all rating policies, including for manufacturing. When we reach the stage at which I am doing a review of manufacturing, there will be an opportunity for you and others to respond to a consultation on how we should move forward with rating all businesses. At some stage over the next number of months, leading up to the end of the mandate, there will be an opportunity for everyone to have their say on a wide range of rating policies that will affect non-domestic ratepayers. I firmly believe in having a fair, open and transparent rates policy that supports our public services and the wider economy. Those are the principles on which engagement with the hospitality sector will take place in relation on Reval2026 and on which I will engage with every other sector. It has to be fair, open, transparent and capable of supporting our public services and the wider economy.

2,178 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 14:18 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

Disagree with this assessment?

Classifications can be challenged. A person reads every challenge, and any change is recorded publicly above with its reason.

Challenge this classification