Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Penn on 8 February (HL5672), whether HMRC intends to start recording the fraudulent use of red diesel in the UK as a specific offence when the law for the use rebated fuel changes on 1 April; and if not, why not.

HMRC records all occasions where rebated fuel is found being used in circumstances not permitted by legislation. As detections of misuse are confirmed by the formal identification of Government markers and dyes, some of which are common to all types of rebated fuel including those used in EU states, it is not possible to identify specific red diesel offences. Samples analysed by HMRC can contain a mixture of these markers and dyes, therefore, it is often not possible to identify misuse by rebated fuel type.