Asked by: Lord Rennard (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Statement by Baroness Merron on 22 May (HLWS662), what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of the Advertising Standards Authority in its role as the frontline regulator of the measures in the Health and Care Act 2022 about the advertising of unhealthy food and drink on TV and online.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has set a bold ambition to raise the healthiest generation of children ever, and will take action to address the childhood obesity crisis. As part of this, we are committed to implementing the advertising restrictions for less healthy food and drink on television and online.
The Government appointed Ofcom as the statutory regulator for the advertising restrictions and this was set out in primary legislation via the Health and Care Act 2022. Ofcom appointed the Advertising Standards Authority as the frontline regulator of the advertising restrictions, using powers in the Communications Act 2003. It consulted on this appointment and published the statement, Regulation of advertising for less healthy food and drink: Implementation of new statutory restrictions, following the consultation in July 2023.
Asked by: Lord Rennard (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government, whether they will publish the model used to calculate (1) price elasticities, and (2) income elasticities, for tobacco, as referenced in Tobacco duties: forecast methodology, published by the Office for Budgetary Responsibility on 7 March.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) publishes details of their tobacco tax receipt forecast in the Economic and Fiscal Outlook (EFO) publication and forecast methodology page. [1] The OBR provides further information on their analysis on request.
[1] https://obr.uk/forecasts-in-depth/tax-by-tax-spend-by-spend/tobacco-duties/
Asked by: Lord Rennard (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the financial implications to higher education institutions of the 6 per cent levy on foreign students' tuition fees, proposed in Restoring control over the immigration system, published on 12 May.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The immigration white paper sets out a series of measures that will achieve a reduction in net migration, while maintaining the UK’s globally competitive offer to international students and making a significant contribution to growth by boosting our skills base.
This includes the commitment to explore the introduction of a levy on higher education (HE) provider income from international students, with proceeds to be reinvested in the domestic HE and skills system. The department will set out more details around the levy in the Autumn Budget.
Analysis of the potential impacts is based on the levy applying to English HE providers only. The department will fully consult all the devolved governments on the implementation of the international student levy.
Asked by: Lord Rennard (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the extent to which tobacco industry pricing strategies undermine the objectives of the minimum excise tax and tobacco excise tax to reduce smoking prevalence.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Like most businesses across the economy, tobacco producers and retailers are free to set prices for their products. Evidence suggests that close to 100% of tax increases, and in many cases more, is passed through to consumers through prices. How this is distributed across products is a matter for the individual firms.
The UK has some of the highest tobacco taxes in the world which have helped reduce smoking prevalence to 11.9%.
In order to protect the public health objectives of tobacco taxation the Minimum Excise Tax sets a minimum amount of duty collected on a pack of cigarettes. This discourages manufacturers from selling cheap cigarettes as it reduces the profitability of cigarettes sold at or below the trigger price of £13.59 for a pack of 20 cigarettes.
Asked by: Lord Rennard (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the consequences to higher education institutions of the applying the 6 per cent levy on foreign students' tuition fees, proposed in Restoring control over the immigration system, published on 12 May, to courses of less than six months.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The immigration white paper sets out a series of measures that will achieve a reduction in net migration, while maintaining the UK’s globally competitive offer to international students and making a significant contribution to growth by boosting our skills base.
This includes the commitment to explore the introduction of a levy on higher education (HE) provider income from international students, with proceeds to be reinvested in the domestic HE and skills system. The department will set out more details around the levy in the Autumn Budget.
Analysis of the potential impacts is based on the levy applying to English HE providers only. The department will fully consult all the devolved governments on the implementation of the international student levy.
Asked by: Lord Rennard (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the consequences for (1) the economies of England and Wales and (2) local economies resulting from the 6-percent levy on foreign students' tuition fees, proposed in Restoring control over the immigration system, published on 12 May.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The immigration white paper sets out a series of measures that will achieve a reduction in net migration, while maintaining the UK’s globally competitive offer to international students and making a significant contribution to growth by boosting our skills base.
This includes the commitment to explore the introduction of a levy on higher education (HE) provider income from international students, with proceeds to be reinvested in the domestic HE and skills system. The department will set out more details around the levy in the Autumn Budget.
Analysis of the potential impacts is based on the levy applying to English HE providers only. The department will fully consult all the devolved governments on the implementation of the international student levy.
Asked by: Lord Rennard (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to consult higher education institutions on the 6 per cent levy on foreign students' tuition fees, proposed in Restoring control over the immigration system, published on 12 May.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The immigration white paper sets out a series of measures that will achieve a reduction in net migration, while maintaining the UK’s globally competitive offer to international students and making a significant contribution to growth by boosting our skills base.
This includes the commitment to explore the introduction of a levy on higher education (HE) provider income from international students, with proceeds to be reinvested in the domestic HE and skills system. The department will set out more details around the levy in the Autumn Budget.
Analysis of the potential impacts is based on the levy applying to English HE providers only. The department will fully consult all the devolved governments on the implementation of the international student levy.
Asked by: Lord Rennard (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the recent study by the University of Manchester, reported in The Guardian, which found that, of 28 liberal democracies, the UK, Ireland and Barbados are the three countries where it is most difficult to register to vote.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government is committed to improving electoral registration. We are exploring a wide range of options to deliver on our manifesto commitment, including making greater use of public data and online Government services. Any changes will be based on robust evidence and user research.
Asked by: Lord Rennard (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what action they are taking to combat the pricing strategies of (1) under-shifting, and (2) over-shifting, by the tobacco industry to protect the public health aims of tobacco taxation.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Like most businesses across the economy, tobacco producers and retailers are free to set prices for their products. Evidence suggests that close to 100% of tax increases, and in many cases more, is passed through to consumers through prices. How this is distributed across products is a matter for the individual firms.
The UK has some of the highest tobacco taxes in the world which have helped reduce smoking prevalence to 11.9%.
In order to protect the public health objectives of tobacco taxation the Minimum Excise Tax sets a minimum amount of duty collected on a pack of cigarettes. This discourages manufacturers from selling cheap cigarettes as it reduces the profitability of cigarettes sold at or below the trigger price of £13.59 for a pack of 20 cigarettes.
Asked by: Lord Rennard (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the pricing strategies of (1) under-shifting, and (2) over-shifting, by the tobacco industry on smoking prevalence.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Like most businesses across the economy, tobacco producers and retailers are free to set prices for their products. Evidence suggests that close to 100% of tax increases, and in many cases more, is passed through to consumers through prices. How this is distributed across products is a matter for the individual firms.
The UK has some of the highest tobacco taxes in the world which have helped reduce smoking prevalence to 11.9%.
In order to protect the public health objectives of tobacco taxation the Minimum Excise Tax sets a minimum amount of duty collected on a pack of cigarettes. This discourages manufacturers from selling cheap cigarettes as it reduces the profitability of cigarettes sold at or below the trigger price of £13.59 for a pack of 20 cigarettes.