Luciana Berger – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2014-07-15.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much HM Revenue and Customs has spent on Tackling Tobacco Smuggling strategy in each year since 2010-11; how many of his Department’s staff worked on implementing that strategy in each such year; and how many such staff were engaged in (a) detection, (b) intelligence-gathering and analysis, (c) investigations and (d) the provision of legal advice.

Priti Patel

It is not possible to provide the requested breakdown of the total HM Revenue and Customs spent on salaries for staff employed on tackling tobacco smuggling in the way requested. The total costs for each year are as follows:

HM Revenue and Customs does not operate any x-ray scanners. Border Force has responsibility for the operation of x-ray scanners as part of the joint strategy to tackle tobacco smuggling.

HM Revenue and Customs total expenditure on tobacco work since 2010-11 is detailed in the table below. This includes administration and policy, as well as enforcement.

It is not possible to provide the staff information in the format requested. However, the total figures are set out below:

For the year 2012/13, the UK cigarette illicit market was reported at 9%, which is half the level seen a decade ago. The illicit market share for hand-rolling tobacco is 36%, lower than in 2010/11 and significantly lower than the level seen in 2008/09, when it was 50 per cent.