Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the impact of raising wine duty on revenue raised by his Department.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government will make and announce any alcohol decisions at Spring Budget 2024. Duty freezes to alcohol duty over the last decade have amounted to a total tax cut of £12.9 billion to the alcohol industry, including the duty freeze up to 1 August 2024 announced at Autumn Statement 2023.
Before Autumn Statement 2023, since ending the duty escalator for wine in 2013, the wine industry has benefitted from cuts or freezes to wine duty at four out of the last nine fiscal events.
The latest receipts for alcohol duty including wine duty can be found at the following link:
Alcohol Bulletin commentary (November 2023 to January 2024) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will take steps to reduce excise duty on wine.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government will make and announce any alcohol decisions at Spring Budget 2024. Duty freezes to alcohol duty over the last decade have amounted to a total tax cut of £12.9 billion to the alcohol industry, including the duty freeze up to 1 August 2024 announced at Autumn Statement 2023.
Before Autumn Statement 2023, since ending the duty escalator for wine in 2013, the wine industry has benefitted from cuts or freezes to wine duty at four out of the last nine fiscal events.
The latest receipts for alcohol duty including wine duty can be found at the following link:
Alcohol Bulletin commentary (November 2023 to January 2024) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of making the easement for levying wine duty permanent.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
As part of the new alcohol duty system, the Government introduced a wine easement for 18 months which will last until February 2025. During this period, all wine between 11.5-14.5% alcohol by volume (ABV) will pay duty as if it were 12.5% ABV. This gives the wine industry over two years to adapt to the new system.
The Government is closely monitoring the impact of the recent 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.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department takes to help ensure that (a) companies and (b) other organisations accurately determine whether someone is self-employed for tax purposes under the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 guidance.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
To help customers make an informed decision on a worker’s status for tax, HMRC provides comprehensive online guidance that explains the relevant factors and tests and how to apply them.
HMRC also provides its digital Check Employment Status for Tax (CEST) tool to support employers and workers determine the employment status of an engagement.
The Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 contains a number of provisions related to appeal rights and determining disputes. In 2021, the Government introduced a disagreement process to allow workers to challenge the status determination they have been given under the off payroll working rules with their engager.
The Government keeps all tax policy and legislation under review. HMRC regularly reviews its guidance products and amends or adds to them where this improves the content or customer experience.
For example, HMRC has recently published guidelines for compliance to help organisations comply with the Off-Payroll Working rules contained in Chapter 10 of Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has made an assessment of the effectiveness of the appeals process for the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
To help customers make an informed decision on a worker’s status for tax, HMRC provides comprehensive online guidance that explains the relevant factors and tests and how to apply them.
HMRC also provides its digital Check Employment Status for Tax (CEST) tool to support employers and workers determine the employment status of an engagement.
The Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 contains a number of provisions related to appeal rights and determining disputes. In 2021, the Government introduced a disagreement process to allow workers to challenge the status determination they have been given under the off payroll working rules with their engager.
The Government keeps all tax policy and legislation under review. HMRC regularly reviews its guidance products and amends or adds to them where this improves the content or customer experience.
For example, HMRC has recently published guidelines for compliance to help organisations comply with the Off-Payroll Working rules contained in Chapter 10 of Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to clarify the guidance his Department has issued on the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
To help customers make an informed decision on a worker’s status for tax, HMRC provides comprehensive online guidance that explains the relevant factors and tests and how to apply them.
HMRC also provides its digital Check Employment Status for Tax (CEST) tool to support employers and workers determine the employment status of an engagement.
The Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 contains a number of provisions related to appeal rights and determining disputes. In 2021, the Government introduced a disagreement process to allow workers to challenge the status determination they have been given under the off payroll working rules with their engager.
The Government keeps all tax policy and legislation under review. HMRC regularly reviews its guidance products and amends or adds to them where this improves the content or customer experience.
For example, HMRC has recently published guidelines for compliance to help organisations comply with the Off-Payroll Working rules contained in Chapter 10 of Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of removing VAT on all school uniform items.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Under the current VAT rules, all children’s clothing and footwear designed for young children who are less than 14 years of age, including school uniforms, attract a zero-rate of VAT, meaning that no VAT is charged on the sale of these items. Additionally, certain school uniform items may also benefit from a zero rate of VAT irrespective of size. For instance, garments which bear a prominent logo, crest or badge identifying them as part of the official uniform of schools catering exclusively for children under 14 years of age can be zero-rated.
Going further would impose additional pressure on the public finances, to which VAT makes a significant contribution. Whilst we have no current plans to extend the existing zero rate, we nevertheless keep all taxes under review.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the £406 million provided in the Spring Budget 2023 to help tackle the leading health causes keeping people out of work, how much and what proportion of that funding will be allocated to people with musculoskeletal conditions.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Budget document includes a breakdown of spending on policies to tackle ill-health related labour market inactivity announced at Spring Budget 2023. This includes policies targeted at responding to musculoskeletal conditions.
This information was published in the Spring Budget published document –Table 4.1, page 76.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when he plans to review whether the economic tests have been met to increase the Official Development Assistance budget to 0.7 per cent GDP.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Government remains committed to the International Development (Official Development Assistance Target) Act 2015 and to spending 0.7% of gross national income (GNI) on Official Development Assistance (ODA) once the fiscal situation allows.
In July 2021 the former Chancellor set out the fiscal circumstances under which the UK will make the return to spending 0.7% of its GNI on ODA. This is set out in detail in a written ministerial statement, here: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2021-07-12/hcws172.
Each year, the Government will continue to monitor future forecasts closely and will review and confirm, in accordance with the Act, whether a return to spending 0.7% of GNI on ODA is possible against the latest fiscal forecasts.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will publish the economic tests that must be met to increase Official Development Assistance budget to 0.7% GDP.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Government remains committed to the International Development (Official Development Assistance Target) Act 2015 and to spending 0.7% of gross national income (GNI) on Official Development Assistance (ODA) once the fiscal situation allows.
In July 2021 the former Chancellor set out the fiscal circumstances under which the UK will make the return to spending 0.7% of its GNI on ODA. This is set out in detail in a written ministerial statement, here: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2021-07-12/hcws172.
Each year, the Government will continue to monitor future forecasts closely and will review and confirm, in accordance with the Act, whether a return to spending 0.7% of GNI on ODA is possible against the latest fiscal forecasts.