Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made on the potential merits of maintaining the current 12.5 per cent rate of VAT and providing 100 per cent business rates relief to support hospitality businesses.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Government has provided over £400 billion of direct support to the economy during this financial year and the last, which has helped to safeguard jobs, businesses, and public services in every region and nation of the UK through the pandemic.
The reduced rate of VAT for hospitality and tourism has cost over £8 billion and will continue to support businesses until 31 March 2022. There are no plans to extend the length of this relief. Eligible businesses in the retail, hospitality, and leisure sectors in England will benefit from business rates relief worth £6 billion in the year 2021-22. All taxes are kept under review, but it is appropriate that the temporary tax reliefs are first reduced, and then removed, in order to strengthen and rebuild the public finances.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he will take to ensure that the Alcohol Duty Review supports the Scotch whisky sector.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As announced at the Budget, the duty rates on spirits will be frozen for another year. This will save consumers 52p on a 70cl bottle of Scotch, and £845 million over the coming years. Cuts and freezes at eight of the last nine budgets means a bottle of Scotch is £2.72 cheaper than it would have been had prices risen with inflation, and means that spirits duty is at its lowest rate in real terms since 1918.
As part of our alcohol duty review, we have announced further reforms which aim to support the Scotch whisky sector. To achieve a more level playing field, the Government intends to move to tax all alcoholic products in reference to the litres of pure alcohol they contain, as currently happens for spirits, and to reduce the duty differential between wines and spirits. This will provide a more consistent treatment between spirits, wines and stronger beers.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the contribution the Scotch whisky sector can make in supporting the UK’s hospitability sector to recover from the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises the important contribution the Scotch whisky sector makes to the hospitality sector and the wider economy.
For this reason, and as announced at the Budget, the duty rates on spirits will be frozen for another year. This will save consumers 52p on a 70cl bottle of Scotch, and £845 million over the coming years. Cuts and freezes at eight of the last nine budgets means a bottle of Scotch is £2.72 cheaper than it would have been had prices risen with inflation. Due to the continued freeze on alcohol duty, Scotch whisky is also facing the lowest real-terms tax rate since 1918.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will publish in full his Ministerial diary for 20 May 2020.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Ministers regularly meet with departmental officials and external stakeholders. Details of ministerial meetings with external organisations are published quarterly and can be found here: HMT ministers' meetings, hospitality, gifts and overseas travel - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the contribution of Scotch Whisky distilleries as job creators in rural Scottish communities in each of the last three years.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises the important contribution the spirits sector makes to the economy. This is why we announced a freeze on spirit duties at March Budget 2021, making the price of a typical bottle of Scotch whisky 30p lower than it would have been had prices risen with inflation. When added to the cuts and freezes made in the last five years, this means that the price of a typical bottle of Scotch Whisky in 2021 will be £2.15 lower than it otherwise would have been since ending the spirits escalator in 2014.
To further support Scotch, the Chancellor has announced £1 million of additional funding for the promotion of Scottish food and drink products overseas, and £10 million of research and development funding to help the distilling sector transition to net zero emissions.
More broadly, the Government keeps all taxes under review. We are continuing to monitor emerging public health data and will provide further updates on our alcohol duty review in due course.