Valve assembly

A valve assembly for controlling the rate of flow of fluid between a valve inlet (18) and a valve outlet (22) comprises a valve housing (10), and a spool valve member (14) that is movable axially within a valve bore (12) provided in the valve housing (10) in an opening direction and a closing direction. The spool valve member (14) is provided with a blind bore (28), the open end of which communicates with the valve outlet, and at least one opening (32, 34; 40; 50, 52, 54, 56) into the blind bore, the at least one opening communicating, to a variable degree dependent on the axial position of the spool valve member (14) within the valve bore (12), with the valve inlet (18). The valve inlet (18) comprises a first boundary (24) and a second boundary (26), wherein the first boundary (24) acts as a control edge so that for axial positions of the spool valve member (14) in which the opening (30, 32; 40; 50, 52, 54, 56) does not overlap the control edge there is no flow into the outlet (22). A blind end (30) of the blind bore (28) is positioned, for all positions of the spool valve member (14) within the valve bore (12), beyond the second boundary (26) in the opening direction of the spool valve member (14).