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.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of increasing Draught Duty Relief to 20% on (a) pubs and (b) small and independent brewers.
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 products 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, including Draught Relief, 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.
As with all taxes, the Government keeps the alcohol duty system under review during its yearly Budget process.
Asked by: Stephen Crabb (Conservative - Preseli Pembrokeshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the level of draught relief for (a) beer and (b) cider.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
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.
The Government is closely monitoring the impact of the recent reforms, including Draught Relief, 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.
As with all taxes, the Government keeps the alcohol duty system under review during its yearly Budget process.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will take steps to reduce the alcohol content in drinks on sale in retail settings.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As set out in the 2019 publication, Advancing our Heath: Prevention in the 2020s, the Department is working with industry to deliver a significant increase in the availability of no- and low-alcohol products. Current guidance for the use of low-alcohol descriptors, published by the Department in 2018, sets out that “alcohol-free” products should have an alcohol by volume (ABV) content of no more than 0.05% and “low-alcohol” products should have an ABV of no more than 1.2%.
In support of the commitment to increase the availability of these products across retail and hospitality settings, the Government published a consultation on updating this guidance in September 2023. A response will be published in due course.
The Government has also delivered on its commitment to review the outdated and complex alcohol duty system and introduced the biggest reform of alcohol duties in 140 years. As of 1 August 2023, all alcohol is now taxed by strength. This is helping to target problem drinking by taxing products associated with higher alcohol-related harm at a higher rate of duty.
The new system incentivises the production and consumption of lower strength products by introducing a reduced rate of duty for products of a lower ABV. Additionally, all draught products below 8.5 per cent ABV sold in containers of 20 litres or more now receive a reduced rate of duty, incentivising consumption of lower strength products in pubs.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has plans to make an assessment of the potential merits of further measures to support (a) SME, (b) independent and (c) other wine and spirits businesses with high-street presence in the context of (i) the increase in alcohol duty brought in in August 2023 and (ii) the end of business rates relief at the end of the 2023-24 financial year.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government has undertaken the biggest reform of alcohol duties for over 140 years and has introduced a new, simplified alcohol duty system based on the common-sense principle of taxing alcohol by strength. The Government is closely monitoring the impact of the 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.
As with all taxes, the Government keeps the alcohol duty system under review during its yearly Budget process.
At Autumn Statement 2022 the Government announced an increased 75% relief for retail, hospitality and leisure properties, up to a cash cap of £110,000 per business for 2023-24. This is a tax cut worth over £2 billion for around 230,000 RHL businesses, to support the high street and protect small shops and pubs.
Decisions on future business rates support will be made in due course.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what estimate she has made of the number of pubs that have closed in (a) Enfield North constituency, (b) the London Borough of Enfield and (c) London in each of the last five years.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The latest ONS data[1] (as of 09 November 2023) shows the overall number of public houses and bars in Enfield North, Enfield and London for each of the last 5 years (Table 1).
Table 1: Number of Public House and Bar Local Units, 2019 – 2023
Date | Enfield North | Enfield | London |
2019 | 15 | 40 | 2,215 |
2020 | 15 | 45 | 2,245 |
2021 | 15 | 45 | 2,225 |
2022 | 15 | 45 | 2,265 |
2023 | 15 | 40 | 2,255 |
Business closures (VAT de-registrations) are not available at this level of industrial and geographical detail. However, the Insolvency Service[2] do publish monthly data on the total number of insolvencies in the food and beverage services sector in England and Wales from 2019 to 2022 (Table 2).
Date | Food and beverage service activities insolvencies |
2019 | 2,150 |
2020 | 1,542 |
2021 | 1,542 |
2022 | 2,523 |
[1] ONS Business counts via NOMIS. Data relates to SIC 56.302 – Public houses and bars.
[2] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/monthly-insolvency-statistics-september-2023
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 support pubs and small breweries.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
I refer the hon member to the answer I gave on 20 October 2023 to PQ UIN 203159.