Asked by: Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the Office for National Statistics release Quarterly alcohol-specific deaths in England and Wales: 2001 to 2019 registrations and Quarter 1 (Jan to Mar) to Quarter 3 (July to Sept) 2020 provisional registrations, published on 2 February; and what assessment they have made of the case for increasing alcohol duty to save lives.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
Alcohol duties are kept under review and the impact of a change to alcohol duty is considered at each fiscal event. This takes a variety of data sources into account, including those relating to public health as well as the financial implications of any change.
Asked by: Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential financial benefit of increasing alcohol duty to reduce the cost of alcohol-related illness and harms to the NHS.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
All taxes are kept under review and the impact of a change to alcohol duty is considered at each fiscal event, including its effect on health.
Asked by: Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure the new alcohol duty system (1) protects public health, and (2) helps to reduce alcohol harm.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The Treasury is conducting a review of the alcohol duty system. As part of this it is engaging with public health groups along with other interested stakeholders. However, while public health is an important factor, it is not the sole consideration, as the Government will also need to take account of the wider fiscal and economic implications of reform.
Asked by: Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the health impacts of freezing alcohol duty in the 2020 Budget.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
All taxes are kept under review and the impact of a change to alcohol duty is considered at each fiscal event, including its effect on health. As a freeze in duties involves no changes to rates, the Government expects there to be no direct impact on public health.
Asked by: Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether the Financial Conduct Authority has sufficient powers to regulate claims management companies, particularly in relation to cold calling.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The Government is confident that the FCA has a broad suite of authorisation, supervision and enforcement powers to regulate the conduct of claims management companies (CMCs). The Financial Guidance and Claims Act 2018 transferred responsibility for the regulation of CMCs from the Claims Management Regulator, a unit of the Ministry of Justice, to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), as of 1 April 2019.
This transfer was intended to enable the application of the FCA’s Senior Managers Regime to CMCs, allow for the creation of more detailed conduct rules to address issues that were causing consumer detriment, and effectively facilitate tougher regulation. The Act also provided for a ban on cold calling, unless prior consent has been given, by amending the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations.
Following the transfer, the FCA is currently carrying out a process of re-authorisation, whereby all CMCs must re-apply for permission to operate in the sectors regulated by the FCA. Once this process of re-authorisation has progressed further, HM Treasury will be able to make any necessary assessments of whether the current model for CMC regulation is operating effectively.
Asked by: Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of raising alcohol duty on Her Majesty's Treasury’s income.
Answered by Earl of Courtown - Captain of the Queen's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard (HM Household) (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Lords)
All taxes are kept under review and the impact of a change to alcohol duty is considered at each fiscal event, including its effect on jobs and the wider economy. HMRC publishes a Tax Information Impact Note explaining the impact of the change, each time a duty rate is amended.
Asked by: Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report by the Fraser of Allander Institute Economic Perspectives: Could a reduction in alcohol consumption be good news for the UK economy?, published in June 2018, in particular its finding that an increase in alcohol taxes could boost national income and create 17,000 jobs; and what steps, if any, they intend to take in response to that finding.
Answered by Earl of Courtown - Captain of the Queen's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard (HM Household) (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Lords)
All taxes are kept under review and the impact of a change to alcohol duty is considered at each fiscal event, including its effect on jobs and the wider economy. HMRC publishes a Tax Information Impact Note explaining the impact of the change, each time a duty rate is amended.
Asked by: Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the proposals in the consultation by HMRC Protecting your taxes in insolvency, published on 26 February, to reintroduce preferential status for any Crown creditor takes into account lost Government revenue resulting from other taxpayers suffering additional bad debts due to the priority payment of HMRC, and any consequential loss to the economy resulting other taxpayers themselves becoming insolvent due to an increased burden of bad debt; and what assessment, if any, they have made of the impact of that change on lending.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
The ‘Protecting your taxes in insolvency’ proposals take into account lost government revenue resulting from other taxpayers suffering additional bad debts due to the priority payment of HMRC.
Lending against fixed assets will not be impacted by this measure, but lending against floating assets will be impacted, as HMRC will move above secured creditors with floating charges in insolvencies.
At Budget 2018, the independent OBR chose not to make any adjustments to their economic forecast in response to this measure.
Asked by: Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the basis for their estimate in the consultation by HMRC Protecting your taxes in insolvency, published on 26 February, that the reintroduction of preferential status for any Crown creditor would yield £185 million per annum in additional tax revenue.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
The estimate is the tax recovered from insolvencies that HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) would not otherwise have collected before the policy was implemented. Adjustments were made for tax and payment timing.
Asked by: Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how the £3 billion announced in the Budget Statement to support preparations for exiting the EU will be allocated to support those preparations; and what the process of allocating those funds will be.
Answered by Lord Bates
HM Treasury will work with departments and the Department for Exiting the European Union over the coming weeks to refine estimates of departmental requirements for 18/19 and will allocate funding accordingly in early 2018. Departmental allocations for 19/20 will be agreed at a later date, when there is more certainty on the status of our future relationship with the European Union. Departmental allocations from the Reserve will be set out at Supplementary Estimates in the relevant year as is usual.