Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people were charged with tax evasion in each year from 2010 to date; and how many of those people served a custodial sentence as a result of that tax evasion.

HM Revenue and Customs is not itself a prosecuting authority. All prosecutions have to be authorised by the relevant independent prosecuting authority, which for England and Wales would be the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS); for Scotland, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS); and for Northern Ireland, the Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland (PPSNI).

The custodial sentences handed down in a particular financial year may be in respect of charging decisions made in previous years, due to the length of time individuals can take to proceed through the judicial system from charging decision to outcome. They therefore do not correlate directly to the number of charging decisions in that financial year.