PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Beer and Cider: Tax Allowances (16 February 2024)

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of amending the temporary off-sales regulatory easement to allow beer and cider festival volunteers to take home unsold produce without breaching off-sale tax regulations.

Asked by:
Navendu Mishra (Labour)

Draught Relief, introduced under the new alcohol duty system, provides a reduction in the duty on draught products sold in on-trade venues such as pubs and restaurants and helps to level the playing field between these venues and off-trade venues such as supermarkets, allowing them to price their on-trade products more competitively.

To ensure the relief is targeted at the on-trade, the Government has prevented repackaging of products that have received Draught Relief for off-site consumption. The core objective of the relief is to recognise the cultural importance of pubs and other on-trade venues as community hubs and to encourage responsible drinking in supervised settings. Providing reduced rates of duty for beers consumed at home is not consistent with the objectives of the relief.

As with all taxes, the Government keeps the alcohol duty system under review during its yearly Budget process.

Answered by:
Gareth Davies (Conservative)
23 February 2024