Tag: Ian Paisley

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Paisley on 2016-03-10.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment the Government has made of the potential effect of future tobacco excise increases on the black market in tobacco products.

Damian Hinds

The government believes that cigarette duty achieves a balance between its two fiscal goals on tobacco; to raise revenue and to protect public health.

In considering fiscal impacts of duties, the illicit trade is an important consideration. The government is committed to tackling illicit tobacco, which undermines health and tax policy objectives and harms legitimate business. HMRC and Border Force have an established and effective strategy for tackling tobacco fraud which has seen the illicit market reduce significantly since the strategy was first launched in 2000. This has meant that, since the introduction of the tobacco duty escalator, the size of the illicit market has continued to fall.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Paisley on 2016-05-18.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he plans to take to ensure that importers of soft drinks from outside the UK are subject to the soft drinks industry levy.

Damian Hinds

The levy will apply to importers of sugar-sweetened soft drinks and we will consult on the appropriate compliance arrangements.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Paisley on 2016-05-18.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will estimate the effect of the introduction of the new soft drinks industry levy on the level of the consumer prices index.

Damian Hinds

The information on the effect of the introduction of the Soft Drinks Industry Levy on the CPI are available at page 51 of the Economic and Fiscal Outlook published by the OBR, available at:

http://cdn.budgetresponsibility.org.uk/March2016EFO.pdf

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Paisley on 2016-05-18.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will estimate the cost of (a) collecting and (b) enforcing the soft drinks industry levy in each of the next five years; and from which of his Department’s budgets those costs will be met.

Damian Hinds

We will consult on the appropriate compliance arrangements for the levy and will plan resource allocation in due course.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Paisley on 2016-05-18.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much funding he plans to allocate to (a) HM Revenue and Customs and (b) relevant regulatory bodies to ensure importers of soft drinks from outside the UK pay the soft drinks industry levy.

Damian Hinds

We will consult on the appropriate compliance arrangements for the levy and will plan resource allocation in due course.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Paisley on 2016-05-18.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the Government’s policy on the soft drinks levy will lead to a higher rate of tax per volume of product levied on some soft drinks than on some non-spirit alcoholic beverages.

Damian Hinds

The tax rates for the Soft Drinks Industry Levy have not yet been set. The levy will not capture drinks with an alcoholic content above 0.5% ABV, which cannot be purchased by children.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Paisley on 2016-05-18.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the aim of the Government’s policy on the new soft drinks levy is to persuade manufacturers to stop selling the regular full sugar versions of their drinks products.

Damian Hinds

The aim of the soft drinks industry levy is to help tackle obesity by encouraging producers to reformulate their overall product mixes by reducing added sugar content, helping their customers to choose low-sugar and sugar-free brands, and by reducing the portion sizes for high sugar drinks.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Paisley on 2015-10-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government is taking to preserve the teaching of Design and Technology within school curriculums.

Nick Gibb

Design and Technology (D&T) is compulsory in the national curriculum in England at key stages 1 to 3. By introducing a new, more rigorous D&T curriculum in 2014 and reforming the subject’s GCSE and A level qualifications, we have taken important steps to make D&T a more attractive subject to study, paving the way for young people to progress into careers in a vast range of engineering and design fields.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Paisley on 2015-10-26.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has consulted UK-based soft drinks producers about the economic effect a potential excise duty on sugary drinks would have on those businesses.

Damian Hinds

At present the Government has no plans to introduce new taxes on sugary drinks.

Treasury Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery.

Details of ministerial and permanent secretary meetings with external organisations on departmental business are published on a quarterly basis and are available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmt-ministers-meetings-hospitality-gifts-and-overseas-travel

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Paisley on 2015-09-16.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what data was used to assess the effect on merchants of exempting three party card schemes from interchange fee regulation as part of the EU Multilateral Interchange Fees regulation.

Harriett Baldwin

The European Interchange Fee Regulation is directly applicable to UK law. The exemption for three party schemes was part of the European Commission’s original proposal, which can be found here:

www.eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52013PC0550&from=EN

The final Regulation was agreed by the European Parliament, the European Commission and the European Council in March this year.