Asked by: Mark Spencer (Conservative - Sherwood)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Answer of 30 October 2012, Official Report, column 210W, on tobacco: smuggling, how many individual seizures were made by the Border Force and HM Revenue and Customs in each of the last five years; and what the total volume of the products seized in each year was.
Answered by Damian Hinds
To the extent that we are able to provide details, the following tables show the number of individual seizures of cigarettes and hand-rolling tobacco (HRT) made in each of the last five years and the total volume of tobacco products seized. This does not include the number of individual overseas seizures, which are not recorded centrally, or the number of individual postal seizures from 2010-11 when a new information system was introduced.
Cigarettes: Number of Seizures | HMRC | UKBF | Overseas | Total |
2010/11 | 2,011 | 28,787 | N/A | 30798 |
2011/12 | 1,845 | 28,750 | N/A | 30595 |
2012/13 | 1,215 | 30,011 | N/A | 31226 |
2013/14 | 543 | 35,622 | N/A | 36165 |
2014/15 | 582 | 39,578 | N/A | 40160 |
Cigarettes: Quantity (Sticks) | HMRC | UKBF | Overseas | Total |
2010/11 | 76,559,489 | 650,060,670 | 991,713,280 | 1,718,333,439 |
2011/12 | 142,230,184 | 455,174,133 | 1,134,984,800 | 1,732,389,117 |
2012/13 | 98,477,437 | 487,835,338 | 1,271,622,181 | 1,857,934,956 |
2013/14 | 59,599,120 | 318,880,074 | 1,058,975,055 | 1,437,454,249 |
2014/15 | 75,953,705 | 439,018,394 | 1,252,616,840 | 1,767,588,939 |
HRT: Number of Seizures. | HMRC | UKBF | Overseas | Total |
2010/11 | 1,596 | 10,814 | N/A | 12,410 |
2011/12 | 1,567 | 11,533 | N/A | 13,100 |
2012/13 | 1,044 | 12,552 | N/A | 13,596 |
2013/14 | 461 | 12,057 | N/A | 12,518 |
2014/15 | 411 | 12,804 | N/A | 13,215 |
HRT: Quantity (Kgs) | HMRC | UKBF | Overseas | Total |
2010/11 | 46,741 | 314,775 | 27,889 | 389,405 |
2011/12 | 56,295 | 508,112 | 7,815 | 572,222 |
2012/13 | 67,872 | 359,635 | 55,658 | 483,165 |
2013/14 | 32,921 | 262,873 | 34,200 | 329,994 |
2014/15 | 57,183 | 227,928 | 27,901 | 313,012 |
Asked by: Mark Spencer (Conservative - Sherwood)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much (a) the UK Border Force and (b) HM Revenue and Customs spent on delivering the Government's tobacco smuggling strategy in each of the last five years.
Answered by Damian Hinds
The total spent by HMRC on delivering the Government’s strategy to tackle tobacco smuggling in each of the last five years is as follows:
2010/11 | 2011/12 | 2012/13 | 2013/14 | 2014/15 |
£65.75m | £68.92m | £67.61m | £76.00m | £78.001m |
Border Force cannot provide the information requested without incurring disproportionate costs.
Border Force adopts an intelligence led approach to all of its customs activities, including tackling tobacco smuggling so that its multi-functional resources can be deployed as effectively as possible in line with latest threat assessments.
Asked by: Mark Spencer (Conservative - Sherwood)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the March 2015 Budget, what progress the Government has made on establishing a cross-government ministerial group to oversee future evolution of the anti-illicit tobacco strategy.
Answered by Damian Hinds
The refreshed strategy ‘Tackling illicit tobacco: from leaf to light’, published on 24 March 2015, makes it clear that this problem requires collaboration across government. Further details on the establishment of a cross government ministerial group will be released in due course.
The joint HMRC/Border Force strategy to tackle illicit tobacco can be accessed on GOV.UK:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/tackling-illicit-tobacco-from-leaf-to-light
Asked by: Mark Spencer (Conservative - Sherwood)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Answer of 30 October 2012, Official Report, column 210W, on tobacco: smuggling, how many people were convicted in relation to seizures made by the Border Force and HM Revenue and Customs in each of the last five years.
Answered by Damian Hinds
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is not a prosecuting authority. Where cases handled by HMRC do proceed to the criminal courts the prosecution is carried out by the relevant independent prosecuting authority. This is the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in England and Wales, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) in Scotland, and the Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland (PPSNI).