Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many full time equivalent staff are dedicated to the work of the Illicit Tobacco Taskforce; how often will the taskforce meet; has the taskforce met to date; whether illicit vaping products will be included as part of its remit; and what recent estimate has he made of losses in tax revenue from the illicit trade in (a) tobacco and (b) vaping products in each of the last 10 years.

Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

We plan to establish the taskforce during 2024/25. We are not yet able to give details on meeting frequency or staff numbers.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he plans to take with Cabinet colleagues to help tackle the trade in illicit vapes, in the context of the introduction of duties on vapes at the Spring Budget 2024.

Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

Proposals for a Vaping Products Duty which will come in force from October 2026 are set out in the consultation here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/vaping-products-duty-consultation

These include measures to tackle non-compliance, including:

• Declaration and payments via digital channels to minimise fraud and error.
• The introduction of civil and criminal powers for HMRC to assess for duty, seize products and equipment/vehicles used to produce or transport illicit product.
• Penalties for those who do not meet their obligations.

HMRC will collaborate and share intelligence with agencies such as Border Force and Trading Standards, who will have enhanced their capabilities around vaping by the time the duty is introduced.

HMRC also intends to recruit operational staff to enforce the duty, integrating with existing tobacco compliance teams and building on HMRC’s recent success in driving down the tobacco tax gap. This success includes reducing the illicit trade for hand-rolling tobacco from 65.2% in 2005 to 33.5% in 2021/22 and for cigarettes from 16.9% to 11% over the same period.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the link between Boko Haram and Islamic State of West Africa Province in Nigeria's northern states, and perpetrators of violence in Nigeria's central states.

Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

It is likely that some criminal networks engage in illicit trade, including trading of weapons, with terrorist groups in Nigeria, including in its northern states. This is distinct from intercommunal violence, which occurs particularly in Nigeria's Middle Belt and is driven by lack of economic opportunities, disruption to traditional ways of life created by environmental degradation and historical grievances. Through our UK-Nigeria Security and Defence Partnership, we are working with Nigeria to respond to shared threats and are supporting Nigeria to tackle insecurity and promote human rights.

Found: 63 HM Revenue and Customs and Border Force, Stubbing out the problem: A new strategy to tackle illicit

Found: 63 HM Revenue and Customs and Border Force, Stubbing out the problem: A new strategy to tackle illicit

Found: Illicit trade is quick to react to legislative and enforcement changes and so this ability to make

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Found: Third, the Assad regime continues to profit from the illicit trade of captagon, fuelling its oppression

Found: development through a World Bank PPP Trust Fund ; and p iloting an intervention to tackle violence and illicit

Found: HMRC will use appropriate operational countermeasures to combat any illicit trade and would seek out

Found: that seek to obfuscate their whereabouts , and is often practised by vessels seeking to conduct illicit

Found: Topic one: Illicit Trade David MacKenzie - highlighted the types of products that are potentially

Found: of some products, as a result of increasing MUP, will inevitably lead to higher levels of crime and illicit

Found: Overview of previous debate One of the feared ef fects of MUP was that it may fuel cross-border and illicit