§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will give the number of lorries and heavy lorries which were among the 399,865 vehicles reported in 1970 for failing to have a Road Fund licence; and what was the estimated loss to the Revenue of this evasion.
§ Mr. PeytonThe information asked for in the first part of the Question could be obtained only from a detailed scrutiny of individual reports. The loss of revenue cannot be estimated but the courts are, of course, required on conviction to re- cover arrears of duty in respect of periods of unlicensed use.
§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he is aware that during 1970 there were 399,865 cases of reports of road vehicles on the roads without a valid licence, that only 157,866 were prosecuted for this offence; to what extent to date the total amount of £1,785,710 total fines and arrears of duty imposed by the courts has been paid; and if he will take steps to prevent this growing evasion of the law.
§ Mr. PeytonAs I have previously explained, information about how much of the fines and back duty have been paid off at any particular date is not available. I am determined to do everything I can to reduce evasion.
§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he is aware that although 399,865 cases 161W were reported during 1970 of vehicles without current Road Fund licences this was only about one-third of the total number of vehicles which are on the roads illegally; and what action he intends taking to ensure that the sums being lost to the Treasury by road-users committing this offence are not lost in future.
§ Mr. PeytonI know of no evidence for the hon. Member's estimate. There is no quick answer to the problem of evasion but enforcement activity is steadily increasing.
§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will give a further breakdown of the 399,865 cases of reports of failure to have a valid Excise licence during 1970 to show to what extent of the 157,866 cases where prosecution ensued this was for arrears of a quarter-year, a half-year, three-quarters of a year and one year or more, and the number which were for vehicles other than private cars; and to what extent the mitigated penalties imposed on 88,046 offset the arrears of licence fees due.
§ Mr. PeytonThe information asked for in the first part of the Question could be obtained only from a detailed scrutiny of individual records. Arrears of duty are always taken into account in fixing mitigated penalties.
§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for the Environment to what extent the 157,866 prosecutions for failure to have a current Road Fund licence resulting in £1,785,710 in fines and arrears of duty offset or compensated for the loss to the Revenue of the 399,865 cases reported for this offence.
§ Mr. PeytonThe total of £1,785,710 can be related only to the 157,866 prosecutions. As the hon. Member recognises, it includes arrears of duty.
§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he is aware that in 1967 there were 348,053 officially reported cases of vehicles being observed on the roads without a valid Excise licence contrary to the law, and that by 1970 this figure had grown to 399,865; what action he has taken since 1967 to prevent this; and 162W whether in view of the failure of these actions he will initiate a new system of combating this method of tax evasion.
§ Mr. PeytonThe figures quoted by the hon. Member reflect increased enforcement activity, which itself is the best method of tackling evasion.