Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to support the wine industry with the added cost of packaging required as part of the Extended Producer Responsibility Scheme; and how much they expect the scheme to add to a 750ml wine bottle in addition to (1) the additional duty in 2023, and (2) further duties resulting from the new wine duty regime to be introduced in 2025.

The Government is committed to supporting the wine industry and ensuring the UK has a thriving and diverse economy to drive growth.

The Government published illustrative base fees in August 2024 to support industry with their readiness in advance of the Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging (pEPR) scheme being implemented from next year.

Producers can use these illustrative base fees to begin understanding their estimated pEPR costs. These are not the final fees; they are our initial estimate, based on the best evidence available. Government intends to publish refined figures for the illustrative base fees by the end of September 2024.

Final fee rates for the first year of EPR for packaging (2025/26) will be released in summer 2025, following the 1 April 2025 deadline to submit packaging totals supplied by registered producers for the preceding calendar year.

The pEPR will contribute to Government’s mission to transition Britain to a circular economy and will work alongside the wine industry to meet this aim.