ASH Daily News 22 November 2017

22 November 2017


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UK

  • Budget 2017: 10 things to look for
  • Warrington: Four schools to introduce voluntary ban on parents smoking at school gates
  • Scotland: Government to introduce £1000 fine for smokers who spark-up on NHS grounds

International

  • Japan: Big tobacco faces tax reckoning in on smokeless products

Parliamentary Activity

  • Written Questions

 

UK

Budget 2017: 10 things to look for

UK chancellor Philip Hammond is under pressure from all sides as he prepares to deliver his second Budget on Wednesday.

Mr Hammond must set duty rates for petrol and diesel, alongside “sin” taxes on cigarettes and alcohol. Alcohol duties are likely to rise in line with inflation, while tobacco duty is likely to continue to rise 2 percentage points more than inflation.

Source: The Financial Times, 22 November 2017
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Warrington: Four schools to introduce voluntary ban on parents smoking at school gates

Children at four primary schools have teamed up to ask adults not to smoke near school gates. The youngsters at St Andrew’s, Beamont, both in Orford, St Oswald’s in Padgate and Glazebury Primary schools have joined forces to back a new Smoke Free School Gates initiative which will bring in a voluntary ban.

The children at the four schools have designed posters and written poems or raps to discourage their parents, carers or guardians from smoking near school.

Source: Warrington Guardian, 22 November 2017
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Scotland: Government to introduce £1000 fine for smokers who spark-up on NHS grounds

From next year, patients, visitors and staff who breach the no smoking policy on NHS grounds could be fined under proposed Scottish Government legislation.

Airdrie MSP Alex Neil believes the introduction of the £1000 fine is a “matter of common sense.” He said: “When I was the Health Secretary I introduced the rule that people weren’t allowed to smoke on NHS grounds. It was purely for health reasons as it is nothing but detrimental. Not only is it very bad for the health of smokers, but also passive smokers who have to deal with inhaling second-hand smoke. The reason you’re in hospital is to get better; smoking doesn’t help that.”

Source: Daily Record, 21 November 2017
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International

Japan: Big tobacco faces tax reckoning in on smokeless products

Japanese lawmakers are just weeks away from proposing changes that could erode tax advantages for heat-not-burn products that deliver a nicotine hit without all the smoke and tar of traditional cigarettes.

With the clock ticking for the coalition’s tax panel to produce a proposal by mid December, lawmakers are still a long way from arriving at a consensus position.

Source: Bloomberg, 22 November 2017
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Parliamentary Activity

Written Questions

Craig Mackinlay, Conservative, South Thanet
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effect of tobacco taxes rises on the purchase of non-UK duty paid tobacco in each of the last five years.

Andrew Jones, Exchequer Secretary to HM Treasury
Estimates of the value and volume of product in the illicit tobacco market for the last five years, up to 2016-17 are published below:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/tobacco-tax-gap-estimates

Sources: Parliament.uk
Link: http://bit.ly/2zfO9nK

Craig Mackinlay, Conservative, South Thanet
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the amount of revenue accruing to the public purse from taxation on tobacco has matched the forecasts set out for those revenues by the Office of Budget Responsibility in each of the last 10 years.

Andrew Jones, Exchequer Secretary to HM Treasury
The Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) and Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC) regularly review the performance of forecast receipts and the findings are published in the OBR’s Forecast evaluation reports. The most recent Forecast evaluation report, published in October 2017, evaluates Tobacco Duty forecasts announced in the 2015 and 2016 Spring Budgets. This can be seen in the Forecast Evaluation Report :
http://budgetresponsibility.org.uk/fer/forecast-evaluation-report-october-2017/.

VAT is also charged on tobacco but this information is not separately forecast.

Source: Parliament.uk
Link: http://bit.ly/2zfO9nK