Soft Drinks: Taxation

HM Treasury written question – answered at on 20 October 2017.

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Photo of Justin Tomlinson Justin Tomlinson Conservative, North Swindon

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much and what proportion of the Soft Drinks Industry Levy allocated to England is allocated for spending on school sports and healthy living initiatives.

Photo of Justin Tomlinson Justin Tomlinson Conservative, North Swindon

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent estimate his Department has made of the revenue accrued to the public purse from the Soft Drinks Industry Levy in each year from 2018 to 2022; and what proportion of that revenue will be allocated to (a) England and (b) the devolved administrations.

Photo of Justin Tomlinson Justin Tomlinson Conservative, North Swindon

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans he has to make up in funding for his Department any shortfall from the Soft Drinks Industry Levy in the event that it accrues less revenue for the public purse than it was estimated to do; and if he will make a statement.

Photo of Andrew Jones Andrew Jones The Exchequer Secretary

As published in Table 2.2 of the Spring Budget 2017, the levy is expected to raise approximately £385m per year from April 2018. This is less than originally expected at Budget 2016, reflecting the OBRs judgement that producers will reformulate a higher proportion of their products towards lower sugar content.

In total, the Government has provided extra funding across the UK of almost £1.2 billion up to 2020, linked to the levy. This is split with almost £1 billion allocated to the Department for Education in England, and the remainder to the Devolved Administrations. The government is therefore committed to providing more funding to 2020 than the levy is forecast to raise, as the Chancellor guaranteed at Spring Budget 2017.

Every penny of England’s share of the spending funded by the levy will continue to be spent on giving school-aged children a better and healthier future, including through doubling the Primary Sports Premium and providing extra funding for breakfast clubs. Whilst still meeting this commitment, the Secretary of State for Education announced in July that she would reprioritise £315m in healthy pupils capital funding, redirecting it to core schools funding. This is a major boost for our schools. DfE’s overall budget has not been cut and there has been no change to funding for the Devolved Administrations as a result of this reprioritisation.

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