Asked by: Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much income the Exchequer received in (1) 2021, and (2) 2022, from import duty of food from the Maldives’ sustainable tuna line fishing industry.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
HMRC does not hold the information requested.
Traders pay customs duty and import VAT based on calculated liabilities for goods, either immediately or on a monthly basis via duty deferment accounts. Also, VAT-registered businesses can account for import VAT on their VAT Return by using postponed VAT accounting. The subsequent revenue collected is not recorded on a product or sector basis and thus no breakdown by product or country of origin is held. This is because businesses are not required to provide figures at a product level within their VAT returns, as this would impose an excessive administrative burden.
Asked by: Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what impact the proposed alcohol duty system will have on the trend of increasing alcohol deaths; and whether their impact assessment has modelled the potential cost savings to the NHS.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
The Government intends to move to a new system that taxes all products in reference to their alcohol content for the first time. This will help to target problem drinking by taxing higher-strength products associated with alcohol-related harm a higher rate of duty.
The Government is continuing to engage with interested stakeholders, including public health professionals, on these reforms. A consultation ran from 27 October 2021 to 30 January 2022, and the Government is now in the process of analysing responses. A tax information and impact note will be published following the consultation when the policy is final, or near final, in the usual way.
Asked by: Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the extension of the paid benefits of the Job Retention Scheme following the announcement of the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) (No.4) Regulations 2020, will be fully backdated to 23 October for Wales.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The CJRS has been available in Wales throughout the pandemic. Eligible employers in Wales would have been able to furlough their employees in October and furloughed employees will have received at least 80% of their wages. The CJRS, which was recently extended to the end of March 2021, has always been available UK-wide and all changes to the scheme apply UK-wide, as they have done throughout the pandemic.
To further support the whole UK, the Chancellor recently announced an increase of £2 billion to the upfront guaranteed funding for the devolved administrations. For Wales, this means an increase to £5 billion of support on top of their Spring Budget funding.
Asked by: Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to change the current duty structure for cider in the light of their statement that alcohol duties should be directly proportional to alcohol content.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
Current rules require that cider duty is structured in bands according to the strength of the product.
The government continues to keep all taxes under review, and in that context is considering the views of stakeholders.
Asked by: Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government why tax relief is not available for essential professional expenses such as registration, defence fees and continued professional development incurred, or for unpaid professional work undertaken, by a doctor in receipt of a National Health Service pension.
Answered by Lord Deighton
Some of an employee's professional expenses may qualify for tax relief against the earnings from that employment. However an individual cannot set expenses against their other sources of income such as a pension. This is the case even where the individual continues to do voluntary unpaid work in a connected field.