(2) what estimate he has made of the percentage of brewers that are eligible for the Small Brewers Relief Scheme; how many breweries took advantage of the scheme in each year since 2002; and if he will make a statement.
Information on the cost to the Treasury of the Small Brewers Relief Scheme is published at:
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/tax expenditures/menu.htm
and is only available for the last two financial years.
The numbers of brewers eligible for the Small Brewers Relief (i.e. that produce less than 5,000 HL of beer per year) in each of the last six years were:
Number 2002 394 2003 421 2004 424 2005 497 2006 560 2007 592
The number of brewers that took advantage of Small Brewers Relief (i.e. that paid a duty rate of £6.63 before Budget 2007 and £6.85 after Budget 2007) in 2007 was estimated to be 419.