Asked by: Will Quince (Conservative - Colchester)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department plans to set target levels of reformulation for soft drinks manufacturers under the soft drinks industry levy.
Answered by Damian Hinds
The Chancellor announced at Budget 2016 that the soft drinks industry levy will be charged on drinks with added sugar and a total sugar content above 5g/100ml, with a higher charge for drinks with more than 8g/100ml of sugar.
These sugar thresholds provide a strong incentive for companies to reformulate and are set to give industry certainty over the next two years. If companies reformulate their products, as many already have, then they will pay less. But it is up to companies how they respond to the levy.
Asked by: Will Quince (Conservative - Colchester)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will include a time limit in the terms of the soft drinks industry levy such that that levy would cease to apply if reformulation targets are met by soft drinks manufacturers.
Answered by Damian Hinds
There is no plan to include a time limit in the terms of the soft drinks industry levy, but the Chancellor keeps all taxes under review as part of the Budget process.
Asked by: Will Quince (Conservative - Colchester)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has analysed the potential economic effect of the soft drinks levy on the British soft drinks manufacturing industry.
Answered by Damian Hinds
The government will shortly be consulting on the detail of the soft drinks industry levy, and we will publish an initial impact assessment alongside the consultation. This assessment will be updated and refined when the policy detail is finalised.
For Finance Bill measures, HMRC provide a Tax Impact Information Note alongside the draft Finance Bill legislation, which we expect to publish in the winter.
Asked by: Will Quince (Conservative - Colchester)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 21 April 2016 to Question 34465, if HM Revenue and Customs will take steps to enable web-users to include honours when completing government online forms.
Answered by David Gauke
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) does allow customers to enter their title but it does not allow customers to enter other honours. Major changes would be required to a wide range of internal HMRC IT services to capture and store this information. The cost of making such changes would be disproportionate.