Fifty-Fifth Report - Environmental tax measures
Select Committee
Public Accounts Committee
HC 937
28 April 2021
Government response
Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Fifty-fifth report from Session 2019-21 · published 2 Sep 2021
Recommendations & Conclusions
8 results
2
Recommendation
Not Addressed
HM Treasury cannot explain how it will manage declining revenues from consumption of fossil fuels,...
Recommendation
HM Treasury cannot explain how it will manage declining revenues from consumption of fossil fuels, worth £37 billion in 2019–20. HM Treasury has identified risks to £37 billion of revenue from taxes that are wholly dependent on the consumption of …
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Government Response Summary
The government's response discusses issues with identifying clinically extremely vulnerable people, the development of a national GP dataset, and a forthcoming data strategy for health and social care, failing to address the recommendation on consulting for replacing declining fossil fuel revenues.
HM Treasury
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3
Recommendation
Not Addressed
We are concerned that immediate priorities have often outweighed action needed to support long-term environmental...
Recommendation
We are concerned that immediate priorities have often outweighed action needed to support long-term environmental objectives. Budgets in 2020 and 2021 froze the rate of fuel duty to help with the cost of living, while recognising that future rates would …
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Government Response Summary
The government's response discusses local variation in the Shielded Patient List and future analysis by NHS Digital and DHSC, failing to address the recommendation for HM Treasury to consider and report on a tax roadmap to net zero.
HM Treasury
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4
Recommendation
Not Addressed
Tax impact assessments do not sufficiently recognise the potential for every tax measure to affect...
Recommendation
Tax impact assessments do not sufficiently recognise the potential for every tax measure to affect progress towards environmental objectives. The exchequer departments’ current definition of environmental taxes covers just four taxes with specific environmental objectives. Other established tax measures can …
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Government Response Summary
The government's response discusses local authority confidence, shielding, and MHCLG's work with councils, failing to address the recommendation regarding environmental impact assessments for tax changes.
HM Treasury
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6
Recommendation
Not Addressed
We were concerned that HM Treasury and HMRC seemed to view the consequences of environmental...
Recommendation
We were concerned that HM Treasury and HMRC seemed to view the consequences of environmental taxes as the responsibility of other government departments. The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) has lead responsibility for all environmental policy areas …
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Government Response Summary
The government's response consists of boilerplate text that does not address the recommendation for exchequer departments to consider and agree approaches for assessing tax impacts on environmental goals.
HM Treasury
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1
Conclusion
Not Addressed
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence...
Conclusion
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from HM Treasury and HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).1
Government Response Summary
The government stated it agrees with an unspecified recommendation and provided a target implementation date of Autumn 2021, while also describing HM Treasury's active role and ongoing analytical review related to environmental goals, but this does not address the committee's procedural conclusion.
HM Treasury
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7
Conclusion
We asked HM Treasury why it had not undertaken the comprehensive public review of the...
Conclusion
We asked HM Treasury why it had not undertaken the comprehensive public review of the options for environmental taxation that the Mirrlees Review had called for. HM Treasury said that in the past 10 years, it had done an enormous …
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HM Treasury
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32
Conclusion
Not Addressed
We found the picture for cross-government working on the operation of a tax was more...
Conclusion
We found the picture for cross-government working on the operation of a tax was more complex when we looked in detail at Landfill Tax and the Carbon Price Support. Landfill Tax has had both positive and adverse impacts, and HMRC …
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Government Response Summary
The government's response explicitly quotes and rejects a different recommendation (Recommendation #6) from the committee, therefore not addressing the provided conclusion #32.
HM Treasury
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34
Conclusion
Not Addressed
The Carbon Price Support is one of a number of policy interventions which has contributed...
Conclusion
The Carbon Price Support is one of a number of policy interventions which has contributed to the large reduction in coal used by electricity generators based in Britain.70 However, the Mineral Products Association told us that the environmental outcome of …
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Government Response Summary
The government's response explicitly quotes and rejects a different recommendation (Recommendation #6) from the committee, therefore not addressing the provided conclusion #34.
HM Treasury
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