Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he is taking steps to increase financial support for pubs in rural areas.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government believes that pubs make an important contribution to our culture, fostering a sense of place and community, and the UK economy.
Our ‘Brexit Pubs Guarantee,’ confirms that the duty on a draught pint will always be lower than its equivalent in a supermarket. And the new alcohol duty system implemented in August of this year included a new Draught Relief that provides a significant duty discount on alcohol sold in containers of 20 litres or more in the on-trade.
In addition, pubs will benefit from business rates support worth £13.6bn over the next five years, including a more generous Retail, Hospitality and Leisure (RHL) relief scheme that has increased from 50% to 75% relief in 2023-24.
The Government is also funding a wide range of community assets, including pubs, through the Community Ownership Fund. To date, the Fund has allocated £36.9m to 150 projects, including 23 rural pubs.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will take steps to amend planning regulations to strengthen protections for pubs.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Government recognises the importance of local pubs to their communities and there are strong protections in place through the planning system. The demolition or change of use of a pub always requires planning permission. Local planning authorities have strong enforcement powers to tackle breaches of planning control, including the ability to issue enforcement notices which can require the construction of a building which, subject to certain conditions, is as similar as possible to the demolished building.
Asked by: Michael Fabricant (Conservative - Lichfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will introduce legislation to enable Ministers to make one-off changes to (a) pubs and (b) other licensed premises' opening hours for special events.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Licensing Act 2003 already allows the Home Secretary to make legislation for blanket relaxations of licensing hours for “an occasion of exceptional international, national, or local significance”.
The Government continues to keep the Licensing Act 2003 under review and works closely with licensing practitioners to ensure the regime remains fit for purpose and meets emerging challenges.
Asked by: Duncan Baker (Conservative - North Norfolk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he has had recent discussions with relevant stakeholders on providing increased financial support for pubs in the Autumn Statement 2023.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HM Treasury ministers and officials regularly engage with stakeholders as an important part of the policy development process.
The Government believes that pubs make an important contribution to our culture, fostering a sense of place and community, and the UK economy.
Our ‘Brexit Pubs Guarantee,’ confirms that the duty on a draught pint will always be lower than its equivalent in a supermarket. And the new alcohol duty system implemented in August of this year included a new Draught Relief that provides a significant duty discount on alcohol sold in containers of 20 litres or more in the on-trade.
In addition, pubs will benefit from business rates support worth £13.6bn over the next five years, including a more generous Retail, Hospitality and Leisure (RHL) relief scheme that has increased from 50% to 75% relief in 2023-24.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has received representations from (a) CAMRA and (b) organisers of beer and cider festivals on the effect of the draught relief provisions in the Finance (No. 2) Act 2023 on their ability to sell alcoholic drinks in sealed containers of less than 20 litres during such events.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
My officials and I have engaged extensively with members of the beer and cider industries, including CAMRA, throughout the policy development of the alcohol reforms. This includes discussions about Draught Relief.
The core objective of Draught Relief is to recognise the cultural importance of pubs and other on-trade venues as community hubs and to encourage responsible drinking in supervised settings.
The current policy does not prevent pubs and other on-trade venues from selling takeaway pints. Businesses have the ability to purchase full duty paid containers should they wish to decant from the container and sell beverages for their customers to consume off-site.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to extend the draught beer relief to takeaway sales by licensed premises whose primary business is the sale of draught products for consumption on the premises.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
My officials and I have engaged extensively with members of the beer and cider industries, including CAMRA, throughout the policy development of the alcohol reforms. This includes discussions about Draught Relief.
The core objective of Draught Relief is to recognise the cultural importance of pubs and other on-trade venues as community hubs and to encourage responsible drinking in supervised settings.
The current policy does not prevent pubs and other on-trade venues from selling takeaway pints. Businesses have the ability to purchase full duty paid containers should they wish to decant from the container and sell beverages for their customers to consume off-site.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to introduce financial assistance programmes to aid in the (1) recovery, and (2) sustainability, of food and beverage businesses.
Answered by Lord Offord of Garvel - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Government recognises the pressures faced by food and drink manufacturing businesses, which account for nearly 20% of UK manufacturing. The Autumn Statement 2022 announced a package of changes to business rates worth £13.6bn over the next 5 years.
Government also works with the British Business Bank to help SMEs access finance. For example, the Recovery Loan Scheme helps smaller businesses, including those in the food and beverage sector, access loans and other kinds of finance up to £2 million per business group so they can grow and invest.
SMEs can access a range of guidance via the free Business Support Helpline and network of Growth Hubs across England.
Finally, the Brexit Pubs Guarantee announced in the Chancellor’s Spring Budget secures the pledge that pubs will always pay less alcohol duty than supermarkets going forwards.
Asked by: Baroness Hoey (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Windsor Framework which stipulates that food products moving from Great Britain to Northern Ireland will operate in the same way as food products from Scotland to England, what arrangements they have in place for a load moving to a regional distribution centre rather than directly to the point of sale.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Windsor Framework establishes a new way to move prepacked retail goods from Great Britain into Northern Ireland with the ‘Northern Ireland Retail Movement Scheme going live on 1 October 2023.
Goods will move under a single General Certificate for eligible consignments, supported by a packing list.
All businesses responsible for selling or facilitating the movement of food for final consumption in Northern Ireland are eligible to benefit from these simplified arrangements. This includes retailers selling finished goods to end consumers, hospitality venues such as pubs and restaurants, those providing food to the public sector – for example schools, hospitals and prisons, wholesalers supplying smaller retail outlets, businesses operating factory canteens.
These arrangements will therefore apply to goods moving to regional distribution centres, as long as the final destination of the good is in Northern Ireland.
Guidance is available on gov.uk regarding the Scheme, with further guidance being published shortly.
Asked by: Danny Kruger (Conservative - Devizes)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 27 June 2023 to Question 190527 on Deposit Return Schemes: Glass, how many representations her Department received from businesses against the inclusion of glass in the deposit return scheme for England and Northern Ireland; and from whom.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Businesses have been clear that adding glass to a deposit return scheme will add fundamental complexity for our pubs and restaurants, increase burdens on small businesses, whilst creating greater inconvenience for consumers.
Among other considerations, the UK Government took into account strong representations made by relevant businesses, including distillers and the hospitality sector.
Concerns raised included:
More broadly, the additional cost and complexity imposed on the scheme if glass were to be included.
Asked by: Ben Everitt (Conservative - Milton Keynes North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 17 May 2023 to Question 184463 on Glass: Deposit Return Schemes, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact on the (a) plastic and (b) aluminium packaging industry of the (i) inclusion of glass in and (ii) exclusion of glass from the proposed deposit return scheme.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Businesses have been clear that adding glass to a deposit return scheme will add fundamental complexity for our pubs and restaurants, increase burdens on small businesses, whilst creating greater inconvenience for consumers. We recognise that some sectors are concerned about potential for material switching. However, there are many market forces acting in this space - predicting impacts is very hard. Importantly glass will be included in Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging where obligated producers will be responsible for the disposal costs of their packaging so there will be some balancing of incentives.