Asked by: Baroness Hoey (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Windsor Framework which stipulates that food products moving from Great Britain to Northern Ireland will operate in the same way as food products from Scotland to England, what arrangements they have in place for a load moving to a regional distribution centre rather than directly to the point of sale.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Windsor Framework establishes a new way to move prepacked retail goods from Great Britain into Northern Ireland with the ‘Northern Ireland Retail Movement Scheme going live on 1 October 2023.
Goods will move under a single General Certificate for eligible consignments, supported by a packing list.
All businesses responsible for selling or facilitating the movement of food for final consumption in Northern Ireland are eligible to benefit from these simplified arrangements. This includes retailers selling finished goods to end consumers, hospitality venues such as pubs and restaurants, those providing food to the public sector – for example schools, hospitals and prisons, wholesalers supplying smaller retail outlets, businesses operating factory canteens.
These arrangements will therefore apply to goods moving to regional distribution centres, as long as the final destination of the good is in Northern Ireland.
Guidance is available on gov.uk regarding the Scheme, with further guidance being published shortly.
Asked by: Danny Kruger (Conservative - Devizes)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 27 June 2023 to Question 190527 on Deposit Return Schemes: Glass, how many representations her Department received from businesses against the inclusion of glass in the deposit return scheme for England and Northern Ireland; and from whom.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Businesses have been clear that adding glass to a deposit return scheme will add fundamental complexity for our pubs and restaurants, increase burdens on small businesses, whilst creating greater inconvenience for consumers.
Among other considerations, the UK Government took into account strong representations made by relevant businesses, including distillers and the hospitality sector.
Concerns raised included:
More broadly, the additional cost and complexity imposed on the scheme if glass were to be included.
Asked by: Ben Everitt (Conservative - Milton Keynes North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 17 May 2023 to Question 184463 on Glass: Deposit Return Schemes, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact on the (a) plastic and (b) aluminium packaging industry of the (i) inclusion of glass in and (ii) exclusion of glass from the proposed deposit return scheme.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Businesses have been clear that adding glass to a deposit return scheme will add fundamental complexity for our pubs and restaurants, increase burdens on small businesses, whilst creating greater inconvenience for consumers. We recognise that some sectors are concerned about potential for material switching. However, there are many market forces acting in this space - predicting impacts is very hard. Importantly glass will be included in Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging where obligated producers will be responsible for the disposal costs of their packaging so there will be some balancing of incentives.
Asked by: Mark Pawsey (Conservative - Rugby)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what fiscal steps he is taking to support (a) hospitality, (b) public house and (c) other businesses with energy prices.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government remains committed to supporting the whole business sector including hospitality, public houses and other businesses. The Energy Bills Discount Scheme (EBDS) provides all eligible businesses and other non-domestic energy users with a discount on high energy bills for 12 months from 1 April 2023 until 31 March 2024. It also provides businesses in sectors with particularly high levels of energy use and trade intensity with a higher level of support.
Wholesale gas prices have now fallen to levels before Putin’s invasion. The new EBDS therefore strikes a balance between supporting businesses for a further 12 months and limiting taxpayer’s exposure to volatile energy markets. This provides long term certainty for businesses and reflects how the scale of the challenge has changed since September last year.
The government has had to make some difficult decisions this Budget to maintain economic stability and secure the public finances. The government has provided a series of cuts and freezes on alcohol duties in the past decade. The most recent freeze from Autumn Budget 2021, including the extension to 1 August 2023, represents a total tax cut of £2.7 billion over the next 4 years. Whilst we are raising rates by RPI, we have increased the value of Draught Relief to support pubs, meaning a pint of draught beer sold in a pub will not pay more duty from August.
We have provided extensive support to the hospitality and tourism sector through an over £8 billion reduction in VAT during the pandemic, and are also increasing and extending business rates support with a tax cut worth over £2 billion in 2023-24 for the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors. This will support around 230,000 businesses, including pubs, with 75 per cent relief off their business rates bill, up to a cash cap of £110,000 per business. Pubs will also benefit from the freeze to the business rates multiplier for 2023-24, a tax cut worth £9.3 billion over the next 5 years, meaning all bills are 6% lower than without the freeze.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to help prevent addiction to gambling among young people.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government recognises that it is particularly important to take steps to protect young people at risk of gambling harms and addiction.
We recently published a white paper following our Review of the Gambling Act 2005, and are working with the Gambling Commission and other stakeholders to bring these measures into force as soon as possible, subject to further consultation where appropriate. The paper introduces a range of proportionate measures to tackle practices and products which can drive harm and ensure that people who are at risk of gambling harm and addiction are protected, including young people. These include strengthening the land-based age verification regime, especially around gaming machines in pubs, bringing society lotteries and football pools into line with the National Lottery by raising the minimum age to 18, and putting new expectations on operators to consider age as a potential factor in customer vulnerability.
Over recent years, the Government has worked with the Gambling Commission and others on a range of measures to protect young people from gambling related harm. This includes tightening the age verification requirements for both land-based and online operators in 2019, and raising the minimum age to play the National Lottery to 18 and over in 2021. Last year the Committees of Advertising Practice updated advertising rules so that gambling adverts cannot have strong appeal to children even if they appeal more to adults.
In addition to these regulatory changes, specific steps have been taken to prevent and treat gambling harm in young people. Since September 2020, teaching young people about the risks relating to gambling, including the accumulation of debt, has been included in the curriculum for all schools under Health Education in all state-funded schools, alongside Relationships Education (primary) and Relationships and Sex Education (secondary). In 2019 the NHS young person gambling addiction service was also launched.
Asked by: Philip Hollobone (Conservative - Kettering)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 17 May 2023 to Question 184463 on Glass: Deposit Return Schemes, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of excluding glass from the proposed Deposit Return Scheme in England and Northern Ireland on the (a) plastic and (b) aluminium packaging industry.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Businesses have been clear that adding glass to a deposit return scheme will add fundamental complexity for our pubs and restaurants, increase burdens on small businesses, whilst creating greater inconvenience for consumers. We recognise that some sectors are concerned about potential for material switching. However, there are many market forces acting in this space - predicting impacts is very hard. Importantly glass will be included in Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging where obligated producers will be responsible for the disposal costs of their packaging so there will be some balancing of incentives.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent assessment his Department has made of the impact of proposals for high street rental auctions on pubs.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
I refer the Hon. Member to my answer to Question UIN 186998 on 8th June 2023.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of including a Guest Beer Agreement similar to that in the Tied Pubs (Scotland) Act 2021 in the Pubs Code for England and Wales.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government is currently considering publicly available evidence and the views of stakeholders to inform the second statutory review of the operation of the Pubs Code.
As required by the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015, a report on the conclusions to the review and whether there should be any revisions to the Code will be published by my Rt Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business and Trade and laid before Parliament as soon as practicable.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, when she plans to publish the Government's response to the second statutory review of the Pubs Code and the Pubs Code Adjudicator.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government is currently considering publicly available evidence and the views of stakeholders to inform the second statutory review of the operation of the Pubs Code.
As required by the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015, a report on the conclusions to the review and whether there should be any revisions to the Code will be published by my Rt Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business and Trade and laid before Parliament as soon as practicable.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the loss of pubs as community facilities as part of his High Street Rental Auction policy; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
This Government recognises that British pubs lie at the heart of our communities and will often be a much valued community asset. They not only support local economies and provide space for communities to come together, but the best pubs provide important community services, such as support for vulnerable people, creating a sense of community pride.
High Street Rental Auctions (HSRA) will be a permissive power for local authorities, which they can use alongside other regeneration tools at their discretion. They aim to tackle the problem of persistently vacant property on high streets and in town centres and empower places to tackle decline by bringing vacant units back into use. HSRAs seek to increase cooperation between landlords and local authorities, and to make town centre tenancies more accessible and affordable for tenants, including SMEs and community groups.