Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 18 April 2024 to Question 21846 on Oil: Imports, what volume of oil has been identified as being from Russia in cases where investigations have been concluded.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Pursuant to the answer provided on 18 April 2024 to Question 21846, HM Revenue and Customs is responsible for enforcing and investigating export controls on strategic goods and sanctions and investigating potential breaches of those controls. HM Revenue and Customs does not comment on operational enforcement matters pertaining to specific import or export scenarios.
Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 18 April 2024 to Question 21846 on Oil: Imports, in how many cases action has (a) been and (b) not been taken where investigations have concluded.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Pursuant to the answer provided on 18 April 2024 to Question 21846, HM Revenue and Customs is responsible for enforcing and investigating export controls on strategic goods and sanctions and investigating potential breaches of those controls. HM Revenue and Customs does not comment on operational enforcement matters pertaining to specific import or export scenarios.
Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 15 April 2024 to Question 20433, (a) how many such consignments have been declared and (b) whether HMRC has taken such enforcement action since 21 July 2022.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The indirect supply prohibition, concerning Russian Origin imports of Oil and Oil products came into force on 05 December 2022.
HMRC publishes UK trade data on the www.uktradeinfo.com website.
HM Revenue and Customs does not comment on operational enforcement matters pertaining to specific import or export scenarios.
Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 15 April 2024 to Question 20431, whether HMRC has taken enforcement action on oil originating in Russia and imported from a refinery in India since 21 July 2022.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
HM Revenue and Customs does not comment on operational enforcement matters pertaining to specific import or export scenarios.Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has received representations from (a) the Scottish Government, (b) local authorities in Scotland, (c) Police Scotland and (d) the Scottish Police Authority on the potential impact of tax rules in relation to employer-provided accommodation on police officers working in (i) rural and (ii) remote areas in Scotland.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Accommodation can be exempted from tax, providing it meets certain conditions which are set out in HMRC guidance. These rules apply to the whole of the UK and are consistent across different employers. This ensures the UK tax system is simple, easy to understand, and limits the risk of abuse.
The government has no plans to make changes to the tax rules or guidance in this area, but does keep all taxes under review.
The government recognises the critical role police officers play in our communities. However, policing and housing are devolved to the Scottish Parliament and the provision of broader support in these areas, beyond tax relief, is therefore a matter for the Scottish Government.
Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether any oil being imported to the UK has been (a) rejected and (b) turned away on the basis that it originated in Russia.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government announced measures against the import of oil of Russian origin or originating in Russia on 21 July 2022. Since that date, HMRC has implemented border controls so that if such consignments were declared onto the Customs Declaration Service, then HMRC would take appropriate enforcement action.
HMRC has a range of enforcement options available such as education, warning letters, issuing compound settlements, seizures / disruptions and in the most serious of cases, referral to the Crown Prosecution Service for consideration for prosecution.
Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an estimate of the impact of the introduction of the High Income Child Benefit Charge on the cost of child benefit to the public purse in each year since 2013; and how many and what proportion of households are affected by the High Income Child Benefit Charge in each constituency in (a) England, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales and (d) Northern Ireland.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Data on the cost of Child Benefit in each financial year can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/benefit-expenditure-tables
HMRC publish breakdowns of families who have opted out of receiving Child Benefit payments in their annual statistical release.
Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much revenue has accrued to the Exchequer per oil refinery since 2015.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) does not hold readily available data on revenue accrued per oil refinery.
Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to take steps to avoid spirits producers forestalling sales to reduce the amount of duty they owe.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
As with all taxes, the government keeps the alcohol duty system under review during its yearly Budget process.
HMRC published its most recent quarterly alcohol bulletin in November 2023. This can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/alcohol-bulletin
The publication contains annual duty receipts from alcohol types, including spirits. The accompanying tables contain historical annual and monthly duty receipts for spirits. The next instalment of this bulletin is due to be published on 29 February 2024.
Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of the loss of spirits duty as a result of forestalling in each year since 2015.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Since 2015, the duty rates for spirits have increased twice. Rates first increased in March 2017, with receipts data showing no evidence of forestalling for this uprating.
Alcohol receipts data can be found in the quarterly HMRC alcohol bulletin: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/alcohol-bulletin