Asked by: Philip Dunne (Conservative - Ludlow)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he or his officials have held discussions with their counterparts at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on the Electricity Generator Levy and work to disincentivise unabated fossil fuel generation, including meeting the Government's decarbonisation commitments.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
As announced at Autumn Statement from January 2023 a 45% tax is being levied on the extraordinary returns being realised by certain electricity generators. This will help fund support for households and business with their energy bills as well as vital public services.
The levy will only be applied to extraordinary returns defined as returns from selling electricity for a period at an average price of more than £75/MWh. This is approximately 1.5 times the average price of electricity over the last decade. The Government considers this to be a proportionate approach to recovering a share of the extraordinary returns electricity generators are receiving while leaving generators a share of the revenue from high electricity prices. HM Treasury has worked closely with the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on the levy.
The Office for Budget Responsibility considered the impact of the levy on its economic and fiscal forecasts which was published at Autumn Statement in its economic and fiscal outlook.
Asked by: Philip Dunne (Conservative - Ludlow)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the Electricity Generator Levy on investment in renewables, including (a) onshore and offshore wind infrastructure and (b) solar power projects; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
As announced at Autumn Statement from January 2023 a 45% tax is being levied on the extraordinary returns being realised by certain electricity generators. This will help fund support for households and business with their energy bills as well as vital public services.
The levy will only be applied to extraordinary returns defined as returns from selling electricity for a period at an average price of more than £75/MWh. This is approximately 1.5 times the average price of electricity over the last decade. The Government considers this to be a proportionate approach to recovering a share of the extraordinary returns electricity generators are receiving while leaving generators a share of the revenue from high electricity prices. HM Treasury has worked closely with the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on the levy.
The Office for Budget Responsibility considered the impact of the levy on its economic and fiscal forecasts which was published at Autumn Statement in its economic and fiscal outlook.
Asked by: Philip Dunne (Conservative - Ludlow)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans his Department has to consult on (a) vehicle taxation reform and (b) road pricing.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
HM Treasury has no current consultations underway on motoring taxes. All taxes, including motoring taxes, are kept under review and any changes are considered and announced by the Chancellor.
Asked by: Philip Dunne (Conservative - Ludlow)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much HMRC has spent in aggregate on legal costs defending claims from taxpayers which reached court in each of the last 10 available financial years.
Answered by Jesse Norman
HMRC incur several different types of legal costs when defending claims in Tribunals and Courts, such as Counsel fees, Court costs and Expert Witness costs. The department’s financial records are not currently set up to differentiate between costs relating to defending claims in Courts or Tribunals and other legal spend.
However, HMRC can provide costs incurred on Counsel fees and Court fees in litigation teams over the last 10 years. Aside from their staff costs, these will cover the vast majority of external legal spend on litigation and related activities.
£000s | 2010/11 | 2011/12 | 2012/13 | 2013/14 | 2014/15 | 2015/16 | 2016/17 | 2017/18 | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 |
Counsel fees | 6,643 | 7,983 | 6,851 | 7,326 | 8,840 | 8,599 | 7,956 | 7,923 | 8,926 | 8,464 | 7,935 |
Court costs | 90 | 109 | 128 | 130 | 90 | 121 | 175 | 127 | 148 | 155 | 134 |
Expert Witness costs* |
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| 1,030 | 1,107 |
*Data not available for years 2010/11 – 2018/19
The Tax Assurance Commissioner’s Report (part of HMRC’s Annual Report) contains details of the tax protected in litigation by HMRC. Over the last 5 years this has amounted to over £180 billion.
Asked by: Philip Dunne (Conservative - Ludlow)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of removing duty for (a) hydrotreated vegetable oil and (b) other renewable liquid fuels for home heating purposes.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
Hydrotreated vegetable oil is a direct substitute for diesel and it is therefore taxed at the rebated rate for diesel when it is used for home heating. There are no duty incentives for renewable fuels used as a direct substitute for diesel, and it would be difficult to legislate for a complex scale of duty rates to be applied to different hydrocarbon oil products. The Government will keep this under review to determine whether there is a case to make changes to the taxation of this fuel.
The UK is the first major economy in the world to legislate for net zero emissions by 2050 and the Government’s Renewable Heat Incentive, currently worth over £1 billion per year, supports households to install renewable heating systems such as heat pumps and biomass boilers. The forthcoming Heat and Building Strategy will set out the Government’s position on the transition to low carbon off gas-grid heating, but fiscal decisions are a matter for Budgets.