§ Mr. Barry PorterTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what were the sums, expressed in current prices, raised from(a) excise and (b) VAT on tobacco products in the first quarters of 1992 and 1993.
§ Sir John CopeThe available information is as follows:
£ million Tobacco excise VAT on tobbaco 1992 Q1 1,688 360 1993 Q1 1,311 n/a The VAT is estimated from consumer spending on tobacco. No estimate is yet available for the first quarter of 1993.
Comparisons between the first quarter of 1992 and the first quarter of 1993 are complicated by the removal of pre-Budget restrictions on the clearance of tobacco products for the 1993 Budget. As a result, clearances which might previously have taken place in the period December to February were delayed until March, and duty payment delayed into the second quarter.
§ Mr. Barry PorterTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the most recent Central Statistical Office estimate for United Kingdom consumers' expen-diture on tobacco products in the United Kingdom for Ql 1993; and what was the comparable figure for Q1 1992.
§ Mr. NelsonFigures for consumers' expenditure on tobacco products for Q1 1993 will be published on 22 June. Figures for earlier quarters are available from the CSO database which can be accessed by the House of Commons Library. The relevant database indentifiers are:
- CCDZ—current prices, not seasonally adjusted
- CCEN—current prices, seasonally adjusted
- CCBP—constant prices, not seasonally adjusted
- CCCD—current prices, seasonally adjusted