Taxes and Regulation
9. Concerns were raised throughout the inquiry about
the current structure of excise taxes in the UK. The spirits sector
had a particular complaint, alleging that the UK system discriminates
against spirits. It was also suggested that the current UK regime
encourages both smuggling and cross-border shopping.
10. While the tax question mainly exercised spirits
and beer companies, the implications of other recent regulatory
requirements exercised all drinks companies. The report examines
a number of both UK and European regulations, including the Climate
Change Levy (CCL), the Water Framework Directive (WFD) and the
Control of Major Accident Hazard Regulations (COMAH).
Policy Support
11. We also considered how policymakers in Scotland
support the drinks industry. Our main evidence in this regard
was from Scottish Enterprise. We examined its cluster strategy
for drinks and point to several ways in which we believe it could
be improved in order to address some of the issues raised.
Health issues
12. Finally, to a limited extent, we considered some
of the health issues connected to the drinks industry in Scotland.
5 The Drinks Industry in Scotland: Issues and Concerns,
First Report from the Scottish Affairs Committee, Session 2000-2001,
HC 114. Back