Asked by: Giles Watling (Conservative - Clacton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to differentiate the rate of duty on beer between supermarkets and pubs after the UK has left the EU.
Answered by Simon Clarke
Fiscal changes to alcohol, and tax rates are kept under review, and further announcements to duty changes will be made in due course.
To date, since 2010, government has scrapped the beer duty escalator, making the price of a typical pint 14p cheaper than it otherwise would have been. Pubs are also able to benefit from wider reforms including the Pubs Code and reductions to business rates.
Asked by: Giles Watling (Conservative - Clacton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what fiscal steps his Department is taking to support the UK's transition to a low-carbon economy; and what his policy is on the future of carbon pricing in the UK.
Answered by Simon Clarke
The UK is the G20 leader in reducing the carbon intensity of its economy, and is using a range of policy levers – including spending and taxes – to support the UK’s transition to a low-carbon economy.
The Clean Growth Strategy set out significant investment by the Government in decarbonisation including £2.5 billion to support low carbon innovation from 2015-2021, £4.5bn to support development of renewable and low carbon heating through the Renewable Heat Incentive and £1 billion to support the uptake of ultra-low emissions vehicles. In addition, government has supported the deployment of renewable electricity projects, with annual consumer support now reaching over £10bn.
HMT has accepted the Committee on Climate Change’s (CCC) recommendation to conduct a review into the costs and benefits of transitioning to a net zero economy. The Review will consider how to achieve this transition in a way that works for households, businesses and public finances.
Carbon pricing has helped to drive down UK emissions, in particular from the power sector, and will continue to play an important role to help meet the UK’s legally binding carbon reduction commitments, which are unaffected by leaving the EU.
The government is considering long-term options for carbon pricing including the possibility of linking a UK greenhouse gas emissions trading system with the EU ETS. As announced at Budget 2018, in the event the UK leaves the EU without a deal, the Carbon Emissions Tax would be introduced.
Asked by: Giles Watling (Conservative - Clacton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent steps his Department has taken to reduce tax (a) avoidance and (b) evasion.
Answered by Jesse Norman
This government has taken significant action, including introducing 100 new measures tackling tax avoidance, evasion and other forms of non-compliance, since 2010, securing and protecting £200bn that would have otherwise gone unpaid and helping to bring the UK’s tax gap to a near record low of 5.6%.Asked by: Giles Watling (Conservative - Clacton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the merits of private sector ownership of electricity networks.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Government is fully committed to a model of private ownership with strong independent economic regulation and ensuring this model delivers for consumers. The Government has not conducted a recent assessment of the merits of private sector ownership of electricity networks; nor an assessment of the potential effect of the re-nationalisation of electricity networks on the level of personal pensions.
Asked by: Giles Watling (Conservative - Clacton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the re-nationalisation of electricity networks on the level of personal pensions.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Government is fully committed to a model of private ownership with strong independent economic regulation and ensuring this model delivers for consumers. The Government has not conducted a recent assessment of the merits of private sector ownership of electricity networks; nor an assessment of the potential effect of the re-nationalisation of electricity networks on the level of personal pensions.