Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of reducing VAT on (a) catering and (b) takeaway hot food.

The Government currently has no plans to change the VAT treatment of either catering or takeaway hot food.

Supplies in the course of catering include hot takeaway food for consumption off premises and food that is for consumption on the premises on which it is supplied (‘eat in’). These supplies of food are taxable at 20 per cent, the standard rate of VAT.

VAT has been designed as a broad-based tax on consumption, and the twenty per cent standard rate applies to most goods and services. Going further would impose additional pressure on the public finances to which VAT makes a significant contribution.