Written questions by Wild.

If she will make a comparative estimate of the cost to pubs of (a) the Extended Producer Responsibility scheme, (b) VAT and (c) beer duty compared to other major European countries.

Policies related to packaging alcohol taxation vary between European countries. In October 2024, the Government published an updated assessment of the impact of introducing the pEPR scheme on packaging producers. It has worked closely with industry, including the brewing sector, throughout the development of the scheme. VAT is a broad-based tax on consumption, and the 20 per cent standard rate applies to most goods and services. As with all taxes, the Government keeps alcohol duty rates under review during its Budget process.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the tobacco duty escalator on tobacco excise revenues.

Alongside any changes to Tobacco Duty at Budget, the Government publishes a Tax Information and Impact Note, including an impact assessment, to detail the expected impacts. The summary of impacts from the latest changes to tobacco duty at Autumn Budget 2024 can be found here: Changes to tobacco duty rates from 30 October 2024 - GOV.UKAs with all taxes, the Government keeps tobacco duty rates under review during its yearly Budget process.

With reference to the oral contribution of the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury in the debate on the Finance Bill on 3 March 2025, Official Report, column 92, whether her Department has calculated the number of people in receipt of the full rate of the new state pension that will pay income tax in (a) 2025-26, (b) 2026-27, (c) 2027-28, (d) 2028-29 and (e) 2029-30.

The Government is committed to ensuring that older people are able to live with the dignity and respect they deserve, and the State Pension is the foundation of state support for older people. The Government is committed to the Triple Lock for the duration of this parliament, and in April 2025, the basic and new State Pension will increase by 4.1%. This means that pensioners on a full new State Pension will get a boost of £470 to their incomes from April this year. Over the course of this Parliament, as per the forecast at Autumn Budget 2024, the yearly amount of the full new State Pension is currently forecast to go up by around £1,900, based on the Office for Budget Responsibility’s latest forecast. The previous Government made the decision to freeze the income tax Personal Allowance at its current level of £12,570 until April 2028. At our first Budget, we decided not to extend the freeze on personal tax thresholds and, as a result, they will rise with inflation from April 2028, meaning people will keep more of their income.

How many Bloomberg subscriptions her Department has.

HM Treasury has 3 subscriptions to Bloomberg News.

How many (a) strategic (b) outline and (c) final business cases were submitted to her Department in each of the last three years.

The Treasury Approvals Process requires departments and their arm's length bodies to submit business cases to HM Treasury for scrutiny when spending meets specific criteria. These criteria are detailed in Treasury Approvals Process guidance. The Treasury typically receives hundreds of different business cases for approval each year.

With reference to National Audit Office's report entitled, public service pensions, published on 19 March 2021, whether her Department plans to publish updated statistics on the balancing payments made to pensions schemes.

Figures showing the net Exchequer balancing payments for unfunded Public Service Pension Schemes (PSPS), along with details on contribution income and scheme expenditure, are regularly published as part of the OBR’s Economic and Fiscal Outlook (EFO). The latest publication is part of the October 2024 EFO, in the table labelled “October 2024 Economic and fiscal outlook – detailed forecast tables: expenditure”: https://obr.uk/efo/economic-and-fiscal-outlook-october-2024/

Whether members of the National Wealth Fund Taskforce are remunerated.

The NWF Taskforce was established by the Chancellor before the 2024 general election to fulfil an independent advisory role on the design of the National Wealth Fund. Members have not been remunerated for their roles on the NWF Taskforce.

What steps she is taking to help improve (a) public and (b) private sector productivity.

The government’s growth mission is dedicated to boosting productivity growth nationwide. After fourteen years of weak productivity growth, we are reforming the economy to increase productivity in both the public and private sectors. Public sector productivity rates in June 2024 were 8.5% below pre-pandemic levels — this is not sustainable. We have taken decisive action in the Autumn Budget to address this issue. Government departments are now required to meet a 2% target for productivity, efficiency, and savings as part of Phase 1 of the Spending Review, covering 2025-26. For the NHS, our Autumn Budget included over £2 billion of investment in technology to improve productivity and patient access, alongside over £1 billion to tackle the maintenance backlog. We have introduced significant to improve private sector productivity. As part of the Get Britain Working package, the government is integrating health, employment, and skills services in eight trailblazer areas to help out of work individuals to rejoin the workforce. The government will invest £40 million to transform the Apprenticeship Levy into a more flexible Growth and Skills Levy to deliver new foundation apprenticeships and shorter apprenticeships. Skills England will provide a comprehensive national overview of skills gaps and strategies to address them.The government is also protecting record levels of R&D investment, committing over £20.4bn for R&D in 2025/26 to turn cutting-edge innovation into real-world productivity gains.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the rules on the taxation of double cab pickup trucks on (a) consumers and (b) rural communities.

Double Cab Pick Up vehicles (DCPUs) are currently treated as goods vehicles for tax purposes, rather than cars, meaning they benefit from more generous tax treatment. A Court of Appeal judgement in 2020 determined that they must be treated as cars for capital allowances and Benefit in Kind treatment under the existing legislation. The government will apply this judgement, as legislating to reclassify DCPUs as goods vehicles would be a significant tax break costing hundreds of millions per year for these generally higher CO2-emitting vehicles. The transitional arrangements mean that this will not affect the capital allowances treatment of any business that already owns a DCPU, or that purchases one before April 2025; and businesses that purchase a DCPU after this date will still be able to deduct the cost from their taxable profits at 18% or 6% per year. Under the transitional arrangements for Benefit-in-Kind, anyone who has accessed a DCPU as a company car before April 2025 will not be impacted until the sooner of disposal of the vehicle, April 2029 or when their lease expires. In addition, there are alternatives to DCPUs (such as Single Cab Pick Ups) that still benefit from the generous treatment as goods vehicles.

How much tax revenue the Digital Services Tax has raised since 2020.

The requested information is available in the statistics table published at the following link https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hmrc-tax-and-nics-receipts-for-the-ukThe information can be found in column S of Table 2. For ease, the relevant data has been pasted below: Tax yearTax receipts, £m2021/223802022/235672023/24678

With reference to the press notice entitled New Great British Energy partnership launched to turbocharge energy independence, published on 25 July 2024, if her Department will publish the partnership agreement between GB Energy and The Crown Estate.

The partnership between The Crown Estate and Great British Energy is subject to the passing of The Great British Energy Bill. Once that Bill passes through its legislative stages, partnership will be subject to an agreement with Great British Energy. Although the partnership agreement itself will not be published, given it will be commercially sensitive, The Crown Estate have committed to publish information relating to the partnership as part of its existing annual report. This will include a report on the activities of the Commissioners under that partnership and any effects or benefits resulting from the activities of the Commissioners under that partnership.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of increases in (a) vehicle excise duty and (b) the HGV road user levy on the logistics industry.

As announced at Autumn Budget 2024, from 1 April 2025, Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) rates for Heavy Goods Vehicles and the Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV) levy will be uprated by Retail Price Index for 2025-26. This means rates will remain unchanged in real terms for vehicle keepers. The tax information and impact note published alongside the Budget when these changes were announced sets out the expected impact on businesses which own or sell HGVs, which is estimated to be “negligible”. The note also sets out expected economic, equalities and other impacts of the changes, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/vehicle-excise-duty-rates-for-heavy-goods-vehicles-and-heavy-goods-vehicles-road-user-levy-from-1-april-2025 Revenue from motoring taxes helps ensure we can continue to fund the vital public services and infrastructure that people and families across the UK expect.

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of extending the temporary freeze on alcohol duty.

Alcohol duties collectively raise over £12bn a year, helping to fund vital public services and addressing the harms caused to society and public health by excessive or irresponsible drinking. Alcohol duty is currently frozen until 1 February 2025. As with all taxes, the Government keeps alcohol duty under review as part of its Budget process.