Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an estimate of the impact on excise duty receipts of the duty rates for wine and spirits introduced on 1 August 2023.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) published its latest Economic and Fiscal Outlook report in November 2023. The publication contained an alcohol duty revenue forecast up to and including 2028-29 and was inclusive of all previous and planned future changes to alcohol duty rates including the changes to wine and spirits duty rates on 1 August 2023.
Table 2.12 in the supplementary tables published alongside the Economic and Fiscal Outlook report contains separate receipt forecasts by type of alcohol.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the Government makes funding available to support businesses producing alcoholic beverages.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government values the important contribution that the alcohol industry makes to our economy and society, and the new duty system, introduced on 1 August 2023, contains many benefits for alcohol producers, including two new reliefs.
The new Small Producers Relief means that small producers now see reduced duty rates on all products below 8.5 per cent alcohol by volume (ABV) up to a production threshold.
The new Draught Relief means that all alcoholic products under 8.5 per cent ABV which are sold in containers of 20 litres or more and are sold to connect to a dispense system qualify for reduced duty rates. This relief provides a reduction in the duty on draught beer and cider products by 9.2 per cent, and by 23 per cent on qualifying draught wine-based, spirits-based and other fermented products.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the potential revenue lost from illegal gambling.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) estimates the size of the tax gap, which is the difference between the amount of tax that should, in theory, be paid to HMRC, and what is actually paid. The tax gap statistics are published annually and are available at: Measuring tax gaps - Measuring tax gaps 2023 edition: tax gap estimates for 2021 to 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
HMRC does not separately estimate a betting and gaming duty tax gap; it forms part of the ‘other excise duties’ tax gap, namely betting and gaming, cider and perry, spirits-based ready-to-drink beverages and wine duties gaps.
Asked by: Chris Bryant (Labour - Rhondda)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many bottles of (a) red wine (b) white wine and (c) spirits and brandies from the Government wine cellar were consumed in each of the last two years.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The Bi-Annual Report on the Government Hospitality Wine Cellar for 2020-2022, will include a full breakdown of the number of bottles of red wine, white wine, spirits and brandies from the Government wine cellar that were consumed in each of the last two years and their value. The report will be published before the Christmas recess and copies will be placed in the Libraries of the House when the Written Ministerial Statement has been released.
Asked by: Chris Bryant (Labour - Rhondda)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what is the value of the (a) wine and (b) spirits and brandies from the Government Wine Cellar consumed in each of the last two years.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The Bi-Annual Report on the Government Hospitality Wine Cellar for 2020-2022, will include a full breakdown of the number of bottles of red wine, white wine, spirits and brandies from the Government wine cellar that were consumed in each of the last two years and their value. The report will be published before the Christmas recess and copies will be placed in the Libraries of the House when the Written Ministerial Statement has been released.
Asked by: Chris Bryant (Labour - Rhondda)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, when he plans to publish the bi-annual report on the Government Wine Cellar for 2020-22.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The Bi-Annual Report on the Government Hospitality Wine Cellar for 2020-2022, will include a full breakdown of the number of bottles of red wine, white wine, spirits and brandies from the Government wine cellar that were consumed in each of the last two years and their value. The report will be published before the Christmas recess and copies will be placed in the Libraries of the House when the Written Ministerial Statement has been released.
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: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the increase in alcohol duty on (a) economic growth and (b) job creation within the Scotch Whisky industry.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The potential impacts of the recent changes to alcohol duty rates were published at Spring Budget in HMRC’s Tax Information and Impact Note and can be found online: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/changes-to-alcohol-duty-rates/alcohol-duty-rate-changes#summary-of-impacts.
This Government is supporting Scotch Whisky. We have provided a series of cuts and freezes to alcohol duties in the past decade. Before Spring Budget 2023, the spirits industry has benefitted from cuts or freezes to spirits duty at eight out of the last nine fiscal events, since the end of the duty escalator for spirits in 2013. The most recent alcohol duty freeze from Autumn Budget 2021, including the extension to 1 August 2023, represented a total tax cut of £2.7 billion over the next four years.
We have also undertaken the biggest reform of alcohol duties in 140 years and moved all alcohol products to being taxed based on their strength, narrowing the gap between spirits and still wine.
Further, we have removed punitive tariffs on Scotch Whisky imposed on the US market and are committed to protecting the interests of Scotch Whisky in trading agreements, ensuring that they face lower tariffs for export, and that the unique characteristics and global reputation of Scotch is protected, as demonstrated recently in our free trade agreements with Australia and New Zealand, and the CPTPP.
Asked by: Dean Russell (Conservative - Watford)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps she has taken to implement her hospitality strategy policies on improving the resilience of (a) pubs, (b) brewers and (c) other hospitality businesses in (i) Watford and (ii) the UK.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
We are working closely with the Hospitality Sector Council to deliver the 2021 Hospitality Strategy, and brought forward a Delivery Report on 1 March to show progress made. Business-led working groups are considering ways to improve business resilience, including innovation and sustainable practices, energy efficiency, jobs and skills, local partnerships, and improving access to finance.
The Government continues to support businesses with their costs, and we are legislating to increase the new Draught Relief from 5% to 9.2% for beer and cider draught products and from 20% to 23% for wine, spirits based and other fermented draught products.
Asked by: Alberto Costa (Conservative - South Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether her Department is taking steps to help support and increase the export of locally produced beer and gin to overseas markets.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Department for Business & Trade provides bespoke export advice and support to our distilleries and breweries across the UK through our network of international trade advisers and dedicated sector resource in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.
The Department has a dedicated workplan of export promotion activities including a strong UK presence at tradeshows such as Prowein in Germany in March, educational webinars and inward buyer visits.
We work in close partnership with trade associations such as the Wine and Spirits Trade Association and the British Beer and Pub Association to help drinks exporters to capitalise on the enormous global demand for British food and drink whilst we work to open new markets for their products.