Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what fiscal steps his Department is taking to help support community pubs.

The Government values the important contribution that pubs make to our culture and the UK economy, including fostering a sense of place and community.

Under the new alcohol duty system, Draught Relief provides a 9.2% duty reduction on draught beer and cider products below 8.5% alcohol by volume. This ensures that there will always be a lower duty rate for draught products to recognise the value of our great British pubs. This means that every pint, in every pub across the UK pays less duty than their supermarket equivalent - this is the Government's Brexit Pubs Guarantee.

In addition, at Autumn Statement 2023, the government announced it will extend the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure relief scheme at 75 per cent, up to a cash cap of £110,000 per business for 2024-25. Around 230,000 retail, hospitality and leisure properties, including pubs, will be eligible for this relief, a tax cut worth nearly £2.4bn.

The Government is also funding a wide range of community assets, including pubs, through the Community Ownership Fund. To date, the Fund has allocated £71.3m to 257 projects, including many rural pubs.