Extended Producer Responsibility: Hospitality Sector
1/25. If she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the extended producer responsibility scheme on the hospitality sector.
Mr Speaker, I am sorry; I forgot to wish a happy Christmas to you, your staff, everyone in the Chamber and all the House staff who look after us so well. Extended producer responsibility moves recycling costs from taxpayers on to packaging producers, making businesses pay their fair share. In October 2024, the Government published a full assessment of the impact of the scheme. It supports systematic change and is part of our reforms, which will create 25,000 new jobs and see £10 billion of investment from the waste sector over the next 10 years.
Mr Speaker, I would never forget to wish you and your exemplary staff a merry Christmas—I thank the Minister for the reminder. The British Beer and Pub Association has estimated that because of EPR, the cost to brewers just for glass bottles alone is somewhere near £124 million annually. That is the equivalent of a 12% rise in beer duty. This, coupled with the Government’s disastrous jobs tax, is leaving pubs in my constituency in a perilous position, wiping out any profit on a bottle of beer. What will the Minister do to resolve this issue and other issues around EPR, to help protect the nearly 1,000 jobs in the 36 pubs across Bromley and Biggin Hill?
We have had some very good news on food inflation and the cost of living being reduced, so inflation is down. I am concerned that the hon. Member has some memory loss, because under the Conservatives a pub or bar closed every 14 hours. We are working closely with the industry to tackle concerns around the dual use of packaging, and we have held workshops with them. EPR fees only apply to drinks sold in bottles; they do not apply to pints of beer poured in pubs or wine sold by the glass, so I do hope that this will not stop the pubs in his constituency enjoying a festive Christmas.