Asked by: Chris Elmore (Labour - Ogmore)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what discussions he has had with the Chancellor for the Exchequer on support for the wholesale food and drink sector in Scotland.
Answered by Alister Jack - Secretary of State for Scotland
I am in regular contact with the Chancellor for the Exchequer and all members of the Cabinet to discuss how best the UK Government can support sectors of the Scottish economy, including the wholesale food and drink sector.
At the last budget delivered in March I was pleased to see the Scotch whisky industry getting a welcome boost, with a freeze on spirits and a commitment to a review of alcohol duty, and £10 million help to develop green technology. I was also extremely happy to see £1 million investment in promoting Scottish produce to overseas markets.
The wholesale food and drink sector in Scotland has also been considered as part of the UK Government’s broader Covid-19 support. This included the support offered through the Job Retention Scheme and the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme which have protected the incomes of almost 800,000 people in Scotland – more than a quarter of the workforce. This is in addition to the various loans and guarantees to help UK businesses survive the economic fallout from coronavirus. However, our response to Covid-19 must be UK-wide and that’s why we have announced over £7 billion of additional funding to the devolved administrations to support people, business and public services in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. This means £3.8 billion for the Scottish Government, £2.2 billion for the Welsh Government and £1.2 billion for the Northern Ireland Executive.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make it his policy to waive duty payments on the production of alcohol for use in hand sanitiser by spirit drinks distillers in the UK.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
To meet the additional demand for hand sanitiser, the government has been supporting manufacturers by ensuring they have access to the denatured alcohol they need. Since the beginning of March, HM Revenue & Customs has fast-tracked the authorisation of over 3 million additional litres of denatured alcohol for hand sanitiser production.
However, in light of continuing high demand for the alcohol needed in these products, HMRC has worked proactively with the spirits industry on a series of easements to the current requirements. Under new measures announced on 23rd March, distillers and gin producers that hold alcohol or alcohol waste within an excise warehouse may, without HMRC’s prior approval, use these products to produce hand sanitiser without the payment of excise duty, providing the final product meets the World Health Organization’s formulation for Handrub.
Further information on all the easements announced by HMRC to support hand sanitiser production can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/producing-hand-sanitiser-and-gel-for-coronavirus-covid-19
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with representatives of the spirit distillation industry in the UK on the support they require to switch production to the manufacture of santising products.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
To meet the additional demand for hand sanitiser, the government has been supporting manufacturers by ensuring they have access to the denatured alcohol they need. Since the beginning of March, HM Revenue & Customs has fast-tracked the authorisation of over 3 million additional litres of denatured alcohol for hand sanitiser production.
However, in light of continuing high demand for the alcohol needed in these products, HMRC has worked proactively with the spirits industry on a series of easements to the current requirements. Under new measures announced on 23rd March, distillers and gin producers that hold alcohol or alcohol waste within an excise warehouse may, without HMRC’s prior approval, use these products to produce hand sanitiser without the payment of excise duty, providing the final product meets the World Health Organization’s formulation for Handrub.
Further information on all the easements announced by HMRC to support hand sanitiser production can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/producing-hand-sanitiser-and-gel-for-coronavirus-covid-19
Asked by: Ian Murray (Labour - Edinburgh South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of reducing the duty on spirits as a result of producers switching production to hand sanitiser; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The government is aware that some distillers have offered to support their local communities by using their alcohol stocks to produce hand sanitiser. We are keen to support this and ensure that were alcohol is used for this purpose it does not attract excise duty.
Under new measures announced by HM Revenue & Customs on 23rd March, distillers and gin producers that hold alcohol within an excise warehouse may, without prior approval, use this to produce hand sanitiser without the payment of excise duty, providing the final product meets the World Health Organization’s formulation for Handrub.
Further information on all the easements announced by to support hand sanitiser production can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/producing-hand-sanitiser-and-gel-for-coronavirus-covid-19