Asked by: Damian Green (Conservative - Ashford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of extending the eligibility criteria for the Small Producer Relief to include English and Welsh wine producers.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Small Producer Relief (SPR) was introduced as part of the new alcohol duty system on 1 August 2023. SPR provides a duty discount for all producers who produce less than 4,500 hectolitres of pure alcohol on their products below 8.5% alcohol by volume (ABV).
Retaining a strength limit for SPR is important to ensure the relief is aligned with the new alcohol duty system's public health objectives. Wine producers are able to claim the relief on any goods they make below this level.
Asked by: Damian Green (Conservative - Ashford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the average time taken for HMRC to answer phone calls; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
HMRC takes the quality of customer service very seriously.
HMRC is working to improve call answer rates, primarily through supporting customers who can use digital services to do so in the first instance. This will reduce call numbers and allow HMRC to focus their telephone support on those with more complex circumstances, or who are unable to engage digitally. Many customers already use HMRC digital services, with high customer satisfaction scores, consistently around 80%.
Furthermore, an increasing number of customers are using the HMRC mobile app – with more than 1 million new users and more than 56 million logins in 2022 to 2023. The app enables customers to perform tasks on their smartphones or tablets for which they previously needed to call us, such as, view their PAYE tax code and annual tax summary, manage details for tax credits and Child Benefit, file their Self Assessment return, pay their tax bill and use a tax calculator.
HMRC performance, including average speed to answer calls, is published on a quarterly basis at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmrc-quarterly-performance-updates
Asked by: Damian Green (Conservative - Ashford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Spring Budget Report 2023, HC1183, published on 15 March 2023, which (a) activities and (b) charities will be eligible for the £5 billion support to the charitable sector; and how much each of them has received.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Government does not hold information on charities’ activities. The powers within the Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act 2005 impose a statutory duty on HMRC to maintain taxpayer confidentiality, which means that it cannot comment on the affairs of individual charities. This includes how much charities have received in support through tax reliefs.
Asked by: Damian Green (Conservative - Ashford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department is taking steps to help increase the uptake of Gift Aid.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Government is committed to providing support to the charitable sector worth over £5 billion per year. Gift Aid - a significant part of this- is worth £1.4 billion per year to charities and £500 million to their donors (through higher rate relief). Charities have a key role to play in raising uptake as they really are uniquely placed to persuade eligible donors to use Gift Aid, as well as educate them about the benefits of doing so at the actual point of donation.
HMRC works closely and regularly with representatives from across the charity sector reviewing Gift Aid, as well as raising awareness amongst donors. It places a high priority on this collaborative work, and is always interested in ideas to improve the take-up and raise awareness of Gift Aid.
Asked by: Damian Green (Conservative - Ashford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much hand rolling tobacco has been seized by (a) HM Revenue & Customs, (b) Border Force and (c) Trading Standards in each financial year since 2018-19.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) publishes annual data on illicit tobacco seizures as part of its ‘Outputs for Tackling Tobacco Smuggling’ report. The figures for cigarette and hand-rolling tobacco seizures by HMRC and Border Force since 2018-19 are below. Figures for 2021-22 are not yet available. Trading Standards do not publish comprehensive data on the quantity of cigarettes or hand rolling tobacco they seize.
Financial Year | Cigarette Seizures (sticks) (millions) | ||
HMRC Overseas | Border Force | HMRC Inland | |
2018-19 | 627.2 | 628 | 83.8 |
2019-20 | 575 | 524.1 | 69.5 |
2020-21 | 501.5 | 514.3 | 123.7 |
Financial Year | Hand-rolling tobacco Seizures (kilograms) | ||
HMRC Overseas | Border Force | HMRC Inland | |
2018-19 | 356 | 126,295 | 21,845 |
2019-20 | 0 | 115,785 | 35,901 |
2020-21 | 26,250 | 99,434 | 23,909 |
Asked by: Damian Green (Conservative - Ashford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many cigarettes have been seized by (a) HM Revenue & Customs, (b) Border Force and (c) Trading Standards in each financial year since 2018-19.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) publishes annual data on illicit tobacco seizures as part of its ‘Outputs for Tackling Tobacco Smuggling’ report. The figures for cigarette and hand-rolling tobacco seizures by HMRC and Border Force since 2018-19 are below. Figures for 2021-22 are not yet available. Trading Standards do not publish comprehensive data on the quantity of cigarettes or hand rolling tobacco they seize.
Financial Year | Cigarette Seizures (sticks) (millions) | ||
HMRC Overseas | Border Force | HMRC Inland | |
2018-19 | 627.2 | 628 | 83.8 |
2019-20 | 575 | 524.1 | 69.5 |
2020-21 | 501.5 | 514.3 | 123.7 |
Financial Year | Hand-rolling tobacco Seizures (kilograms) | ||
HMRC Overseas | Border Force | HMRC Inland | |
2018-19 | 356 | 126,295 | 21,845 |
2019-20 | 0 | 115,785 | 35,901 |
2020-21 | 26,250 | 99,434 | 23,909 |
Asked by: Damian Green (Conservative - Ashford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing in line with inflation the rate per mile that self-employed people can claim on their vehicle usage.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Self-employed people can get tax relief for fuel and other business motoring expenses using either the simplified mileage rate or by claiming capital allowances and actual expenses. The mileage rate is an easier way of calculating the costs of owning and running a vehicle for tax purposes, intended to balance accuracy with administrative simplicity for businesses by using an average. This means that the rate will be more appropriate for some drivers than for others. The simplified mileage rate is designed to reflect vehicle running costs including fuel, depreciation, servicing, insurance, and Vehicle Excise Duty and in setting the rate the Government uses information from a variety of sources.
As with all taxes, simplified mileage rates are kept under review and any changes are considered and announced by the Chancellor at fiscal events.
Asked by: Damian Green (Conservative - Ashford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what dedicated funds have been made available to (a) HM Revenue & Customs, (b) Border Force and (c) Trading Standards to prevent the sale of illegal tobacco in each financial year since 2018-19.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Government has dedicated significant resource to tackling illicit tobacco and has set out its approach to doing so in successive strategies dating back to 2000. These strategies have been highly effective in reducing the illicit trade for cigarettes from 22% in 2000-01 to 9% in 2020-21, and for hand-rolling tobacco from 61% to 34% in the same period.
Funding for tackling illegal tobacco is typically drawn from wider budgets and activities aimed at tackling illicit trade. However, at Budget 2020 the Government announced further resources to combat illicit tobacco, dedicating £1million over two years to ‘Operation CeCe’, a joint initiative between HMRC and National Trading Standards to tackle illicit trade at a local level.
Asked by: Damian Green (Conservative - Ashford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people have been prosecuted in relation to the manufacture, distribution and sale of illegal tobacco products by (a) HM Revenue & Customs, (b) Border Force and (c) Trading Standards in each financial year since 2018-19.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Government does not maintain a central record of the total number of people prosecuted for manufacturing, distributing or selling illicit tobacco products, or a breakdown of prosecutions by agency.
HMRC does publish annual data on the number of arrests, positive charging decisions1 and convictions2 as a result of its criminal investigations relating to tobacco. This can be found in its Outputs for tackling tobacco smuggling report. The figures since 2018-19 are below. Figures for 2021-22 are not yet available.
Financial Year | Arrests | Positive charging decisions | Convictions |
2018-19 | 140 | 330 | 278 |
2019-20 | 215 | 203 | 261 |
2020-21 | 61 | 115 | 43 |
1During the life of a prosecution case a decision is made as to whether to charge a suspect or not.
2Convictions do not necessarily relate to prosecutions started in this period, since outcomes to case will depend on the time taken for them to be processed through the judicial system.
Asked by: Damian Green (Conservative - Ashford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the potential (a) excise duty and (b) VAT lost due to the sale of illegal tobacco products in each financial year since 2018-19.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) publishes annual estimates for the excise duty and VAT lost due to the sale of illegal tobacco as part of its Measuring Tax Gaps report. The figures since 2018-19 are below. Figures for 2021-22 are not yet available.
Financial Year | Tax gap – duty and VAT (£ billion (bn)) | Excise Duty Gap (£bn) | VAT gap (£bn) | Percentage tax gap (Excise duty only) | Percentage tax gap (duty and VAT) |
2018-2019 | £2.1 | £1.6 | £0.5 | 15% | 15% |
2019-2020 | £2.3 | £1.8 | £0.5 | 17% | 15% |
2020-2021 | £2.5 | £1.9 | £0.5 | 16% | 17% |
N.B. In cases where Excise duty gap (£bn) and VAT gap (£bn) do not sum to the total tax gap (£bn), this is due to rounding them individually to the nearest £100m.