Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Penn on 19 February (HL5309), what checks on amounts of duty-free tobacco and alcohol the Border Force carry out on passengers from the Republic of Ireland entering Great Britain by ferry or aircraft to ensure excise duty is paid where allowances are exceeded.

Border Force is committed to detecting those who would attempt to evade Duty Free controls and deploys to risk using tested but continually assessed intelligence and targeting techniques.

Border Force does not record or publish information relating to the number of checks carried out against specific cohorts of arrivals into Great Britain. Doing so would publicise operational practices which would be used to assist in the evasion of customs controls and compromise Border security.