Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend to include, within the recently announced review of VAT, a consideration of the levels of customs and excise duties applied to those drinks and foods which research suggests are most responsible for avoidable deaths and chronic illnesses; and whether they have any plans to introduce a hypothecated tax for the NHS.

The terms of reference for the Office of Tax Simplification’s current VAT General Simplification Review are on gov.uk.

While the Government keeps all taxes under review, a fixed proportion of each class of NICs receipts (from employees, the self-employed and employers) is allocated directly to the NHS; this adds up to about 20% of NICs receipts. The rest of NHS funding comes from general taxation.