Lord Moylan

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office is engaging in ongoing discussions with relevant departments regarding this issue. The BIOT is not a suitable long-term location for the migrants, which is why we are working to find a lasting solution. The BIOT Administration have put in place a process for considering claims for protection, which is thorough and comprehensive, but do not comment publicly on individual claims for protection. We are not aware of any involvement of LTTE in trafficking the migrants, and continue to cooperate with international partners to try and prevent criminal groups exploiting individuals and sending them on dangerous journeys across the sea.

By the end of January 2024, over 11.5m tax returns had been submitted for the 2022/23 financial year. Around 97 percent of returns received were online and the majority were processed automatically.

HMRC carries out additional processing work on a small percentage of tax returns. This includes checks, addressing amends made by customers and manually working through returns which are made on paper. This year HMRC is on track to meet targets for processing paper Self Assessment returns which is consistent with previous years.

To ensure taxpayers get support to meet their obligations for filing 23/24 returns, HMRC has recently recruited and trained additional customer service advisors.

Under the assumptions used in tobacco costings certified by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) at Spring Budget 2024, increasing overall tobacco duty rates increases tobacco duty receipts.

Tobacco duty aims to raise revenue and reduce harm to public health by discouraging smoking and raised £10bn in 2022/23. High duty rates, making tobacco less affordable, have helped reduce smoking prevalence with the percentage of adult smokers in the UK reducing from 26% in 2000 to 12% in 2023.

Strong enforcement is essential in tackling the illicit tobacco market and minimising the tax gap. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and Border Force published a new illicit tobacco strategy in January 2024, ‘Stubbing Out the Problem)’. This set out the Government’s continued commitment to reduce the trade in illicit tobacco with a focus on reducing demand, and the disruption of organised crime groups behind the illicit tobacco trade.

The strategy is supported by £100 million of new ‘smokefree’ funding over the next 5 years which will boost existing HMRC and Border Force enforcement capability.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) publish official statistics relating to measuring tax gaps, which include the estimated annual tax revenue loss from Illicit and non-duty paid tobacco.

The statistics are published annually and the latest figures are set out in Measuring tax gaps 2024 edition: tax gap estimates for 2022 to 2023.

The duty gap for tobacco is estimated at 14.5% of the theoretical tobacco duty liability, or £2.2 billion (£1.7 billion in Excise Duty and £0.5 billion in VAT), in tax year 2022 to 2023.

Under the assumptions used in tobacco costings certified by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) at Spring Budget 2024, increasing overall tobacco duty rates increases tobacco duty receipts.

People who have a vignette or stamp in their passport that shows they have indefinite leave to remain in the UK can also access an eVisa. They do this by making a No Time Limit application which helps us to re-establish their identity so that they can create a UKVI account to access digital evidence of their status. All No Time Limit applicants whose applications are decided before the end of this month will get a BRP which they can use to create a UKVI account and access their eVisa. If their applications are decided after the end of this month, they will not receive a BRP. Instead, applicants will either have an account created for them automatically, or will be advised on steps they need to take to create their UKVI account. Further information on the new process will be available at www.gov.uk/evisa.

Whilst we encourage people who have a vignette or stamp in their passport to transition to an eVisa, they will still be able to prove their rights as they do today, using their physical documents where these are permitted. That will not change at the end of 2024.

However, making the switch to an eVisa and creating a UKVI account will bring a range of benefits. This includes the fact that an eVisa cannot be lost or damaged, like a vignette, and there is no need for a potentially costly replacement.

HMCTS has worked with the judiciary since the disorder in the summer to bring the rioters to justice. As of 3 October, a total of 819 defendants have been received by the courts in connection with public disorder, 493 have had a final outcome, of which 388 received an immediate custodial sentence. Data relating to the cases started in connection with public disorder comes from a bespoke data feed which does not include information on defendant home address and location of the offence. To obtain this information would involve a disproportionate cost as it would involve checking individual case files.

The Ministry of Justice’s response to the Regulation 28 Prevention of Future Deaths report issued on 12 April by the Senior Coroner for Milton Keynes was sent by the Director General of Operations for HM Prison and Probation Service on 15 May 2024.

Section 2 of the Crime (Sentences) Act 1997 (the 1997 Act) introduced a mandatory life sentence for a second serious offence, meaning judges had to impose a life sentence on anyone convicted of a second specified serious offence, unless there were exceptional circumstances.

Although the ‘two-strike’ life sentence and the IPP sentence can be imposed for similar specified offences, unlike the IPP sentence, the ‘two-strike’ life sentence is a life sentence, and offenders will therefore be subject to licence conditions for life if they are released by the Parole Board. The recent changes to the IPP licence, which can be terminated pursuant to section 31A of the 1997 Act, would therefore not align with this life licence.

We will be launching a review of the sentencing framework. The details of this review will be announced in due course.