Written questions by Rosindell.

When she plans to publish the 10-year National Infrastructure Strategy; and whether she plans to adopt the recommendations of the National Infrastructure Commission’s National Infrastructure Assessment, published on 18 October 2023.

The government will publish a 10-year infrastructure strategy next spring alongside the 2025 Spending Review. This will set out the government’s long-term plans for infrastructure and address the recommendations of the National Infrastructure Commission’s Second National Infrastructure Assessment.

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing the powers of Trading Standards officers to tackle tobacco duty avoidance.

Trading Standards have a range of powers to effectively tackle the illicit supply of tobacco. In 2023 those powers were extended to enable Trading Standards to tackle non-compliance with the UK’s Tobacco Track and Trace system, which regulates tobacco at all stages of the supply chain, from manufacture through to retail. These powers enable Trading Standards to make referrals to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) on potential breaches of the law, and for HMRC to impose penalties. HMRC are responsible for tackling tax avoidance and evasion. Trading Standards and HMRC work closely together on tackling tobacco duty evasion. In 2021 they launched a joint initiative, called Operation CeCe to specifically target the illicit tobacco market. Through sharing of intelligence, combined with local knowledge and expertise, Operation CeCe contributes significantly to the detection and seizure of illicit tobacco products at retail level. Since introduction, more than 4,900 seizures have been made, and over £28 million of revenue loss has been prevented.

If she will make it her policy to (a) reduce and (b) freeze tobacco excise duty.

The Government is unable to speculate on tax measures outside of fiscal events. As with all taxes, the Government keeps tobacco duty rates under review during its Budget process. The government accounts for the behavioural impact of tax changes when making tobacco duty policy decisions.

What assessment she has made of the potential implications for her Department's polices on rates of tobacco duty of the Office for Budget Responsibility's report entitled Dynamic scoring of policy measures in OBR forecasts, published on 9 November 2023, in the context of the Laffer curve.

The Government is unable to speculate on tax measures outside of fiscal events. As with all taxes, the Government keeps tobacco duty rates under review during its Budget process. The government accounts for the behavioural impact of tax changes when making tobacco duty policy decisions.

What steps she is taking to help tackle tobacco duty avoidance.

The new joint HMRC and Border Force strategy to tackle illicit tobacco was published earlier this year, ‘Stubbing out the problem’. The strategy:targets the demand for illicit trade (the consumers that criminals seek to exploit) as well as the supply (the criminals themselves)is supported by over £100 million new funding over the next 5 years to boost HMRC and Border Force enforcement capabilityestablishes a new, cross-government Illicit Tobacco Taskforce – combining the operational, investigative and intelligence expertise of various agencies, and enhancing our ability to disrupt organised crime.HMRC estimates the size of the illicit market using tax gap data, which is reported annually. The duty gap for tobacco duty is 14.5% of the theoretical tobacco duty liability, or £1.7 billion in absolute terms, in tax year 2022 to 2023. The tax gap for tobacco includes losses from the importation or production of illicit tobacco products and tax evaded on the smuggling of non-duty paid tobacco and genuine tobacco products sourced overseas.The link to the tobacco tax gap is here Measuring tax gaps 2024 edition: tax gap estimates for 2022 to 2023.Measuring tax gaps 2024 edition: tax gap estimates for 2022 to 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

What estimate she has made of the annual tax revenue loss from (a) illicit and (b) non-duty paid tobacco.

The new joint HMRC and Border Force strategy to tackle illicit tobacco was published earlier this year, ‘Stubbing out the problem’. The strategy:targets the demand for illicit trade (the consumers that criminals seek to exploit) as well as the supply (the criminals themselves)is supported by over £100 million new funding over the next 5 years to boost HMRC and Border Force enforcement capabilityestablishes a new, cross-government Illicit Tobacco Taskforce – combining the operational, investigative and intelligence expertise of various agencies, and enhancing our ability to disrupt organised crime.HMRC estimates the size of the illicit market using tax gap data, which is reported annually. The duty gap for tobacco duty is 14.5% of the theoretical tobacco duty liability, or £1.7 billion in absolute terms, in tax year 2022 to 2023. The tax gap for tobacco includes losses from the importation or production of illicit tobacco products and tax evaded on the smuggling of non-duty paid tobacco and genuine tobacco products sourced overseas.The link to the tobacco tax gap is here Measuring tax gaps 2024 edition: tax gap estimates for 2022 to 2023.Measuring tax gaps 2024 edition: tax gap estimates for 2022 to 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)