Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of reducing alcohol duty for independent wine merchants.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
At Spring Budget 2024, the Chancellor announced that alcohol duty will be frozen until 1 February 2025 to support alcohol producers, pubs, and consumers with cost of living pressures. This extends the six month freeze the Government announced at Autumn Statement 2023 to give businesses time to adapt to the new duty system introduced on 1 August 2023.
As with all taxes, the Government keeps the alcohol duty system under review during its yearly Budget process.
Asked by: Damian Green (Conservative - Ashford)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to support high street businesses in Ashford constituency.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Government is fully committed to supporting our high-street businesses and communities. The department has announced over £15 million in targeted funding in Ashford constituency since 2021, including:
Asked by: Helen Grant (Conservative - Maidstone and The Weald)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make it his policy to reduce the tax on draught (a) beer and (b) cider.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
At Spring Budget 2024, the Chancellor announced that alcohol duty would be frozen until 1 February 2025 to support alcohol producers, pubs, and consumers with cost of living pressures.
This extends the six months freeze the Government announced at Autumn Statement 2023, providing businesses time to adapt to the new duty system introduced on 1 August 2023.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will increase the value of draught relief to 20% for qualifying beer and cider products in the spring Budget 2024.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Draught Relief, introduced under the new alcohol duty system, provides a reduction in the duty on draught beer and cider by 9.2% and helps to level the playing field between pubs and supermarkets, allowing pubs and brewers to price their on-trade products more competitively. The Brexit Pubs Guarantee ensures that draught products will always be subject to lower duty than their supermarket equivalent.
The Government is closely monitoring the impact of the recent reforms and will evaluate the impact of the new rates and structures three years after the changes took effect on 1 August 2023. This will allow time to understand the impacts on the alcohol market, and for HMRC to gather useful and accurate data with which to evaluate the effects of the reform.
The Government is unable to speculate on tax matters outside of fiscal events. As with all taxes, the Government keeps the alcohol duty system under review during its yearly Budget process.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 16 February 2024 to Question 14382 on Beer and Cider: Tax Allowances, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of the rules relating to off-site consumption of products covered by Draught Relief on the volume of beer and cider wasted at (a) beer and cider festivals and (b) community pubs.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government engaged extensively with external stakeholders as part of the development and delivery process for the new alcohol duty system, including in relation to Draught Relief.
HMRC has published guidance explaining the changes, including in relation to Draught Relief, and ran 3 webinars for businesses - a recording of the webinar is available at: HMRC email updates, videos and webinars for Alcohol Duty - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). HMRC has also worked with trade associations to ensure they share the guidance with their members.
HMRC has also published a tax information and impact note setting out the impact of the measure, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reform-of-the-alcohol-duty-system/reform-of-alcohol-duty-rates-and-reliefs#summary-of-impacts
The Government will evaluate the impact of the new rates and structures three years after the changes took effect on 1 August 2023.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 23 February to Question 14382 on Beer and Cider: Tax Allowances, what steps he has taken to raise awareness of the change in rules on takeaway draught sales for (a) beer and cider festivals and (b) community pubs.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government engaged extensively with external stakeholders as part of the development and delivery process for the new alcohol duty system, including in relation to Draught Relief.
HMRC has published guidance explaining the changes, including in relation to Draught Relief, and ran 3 webinars for businesses - a recording of the webinar is available at: HMRC email updates, videos and webinars for Alcohol Duty - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). HMRC has also worked with trade associations to ensure they share the guidance with their members.
HMRC has also published a tax information and impact note setting out the impact of the measure, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reform-of-the-alcohol-duty-system/reform-of-alcohol-duty-rates-and-reliefs#summary-of-impacts
The Government will evaluate the impact of the new rates and structures three years after the changes took effect on 1 August 2023.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make it his policy to reduce duty charged on draught beer and cider served in pubs and taprooms by 20%.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Draught Relief, introduced under this Government’s new alcohol duty system, provides a reduction in the duty on draught beer and cider by 9.2% and helps to level the playing field between pubs and supermarkets, allowing pubs and brewers to price their on-trade products more competitively. The Brexit Pubs Guarantee ensures that draught products will always be subject to lower duty than their supermarket equivalent.
The Government is unable to speculate on tax matters outside of fiscal events. As with all taxes, the Government keeps the alcohol duty system under review during its yearly Budget process.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Penrith and The Border)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what fiscal steps his Department is taking to help support community pubs.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government values the important contribution that pubs make to our culture and the UK economy, including fostering a sense of place and community.
Under the new alcohol duty system, Draught Relief provides a 9.2% duty reduction on draught beer and cider products below 8.5% alcohol by volume. This ensures that there will always be a lower duty rate for draught products to recognise the value of our great British pubs. This means that every pint, in every pub across the UK pays less duty than their supermarket equivalent - this is the Government's Brexit Pubs Guarantee.
In addition, at Autumn Statement 2023, the government announced it will extend the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure relief scheme at 75 per cent, up to a cash cap of £110,000 per business for 2024-25. Around 230,000 retail, hospitality and leisure properties, including pubs, will be eligible for this relief, a tax cut worth nearly £2.4bn.
The Government is also funding a wide range of community assets, including pubs, through the Community Ownership Fund. To date, the Fund has allocated £71.3m to 257 projects, including many rural pubs.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to assist the hospitality industry in the UK, following both the coronavirus pandemic and cost of living crisis; and what consideration they have given to reducing VAT to 10 per cent for the hospitality industry.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Since the start of the pandemic, over £37 billion has been provided to the tourism, leisure and hospitality sectors in the form of grants, loans and tax breaks.
The Government announced a package of business rates support at Autumn Statement 2022 which means businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors, including pubs, will receive a tax cut worth over £2 billion in 2023-24. The UK also has a higher VAT registration threshold than any EU Member State and the second highest in the OECD, which keeps most businesses out of the VAT system altogether.
VAT is the UK's third largest tax forecast to raise £161 billion in 2023/24, helping to fund key spending priorities such as important public services, including the NHS, education and defence. The previous VAT relief for tourism and hospitality cost over £8 billion and reintroducing it would come at a significant further cost.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of reducing VAT for the hospitality industry.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Since the start of the pandemic, over £37 billion has been provided to the tourism, leisure and hospitality sectors in the form of grants, loans and tax breaks.
The Government announced a package of business rates support at Autumn Statement 2022 which means businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors, including pubs, will receive a tax cut worth over £2 billion in 2023-24. The UK also has a higher VAT registration threshold than any EU Member State and the second highest in the OECD, which keeps most businesses out of the VAT system altogether.
VAT is the UK's third largest tax forecast to raise £161 billion in 2023/24, helping to fund key spending priorities such as important public services, including the NHS, education and defence. The previous VAT relief for tourism and hospitality cost over £8 billion and reintroducing it would come at a significant further cost.