§ Mr. Rookerasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will set out in respect of the Inland Revenue and Customs and Excise the changes in investigatory powers made since 1979 indicating where a power was (a) strengthened and (b) weakened.
§ Mr. Moore[pursuant to his reply, 16 January 1984, c. 23]: I have assumed that by "investigatory powers" the hon. Member has in mind powers to require information including, where appropriate, powers of entry. These powers are listed, together with their statutory references, in the report of the committee on enforcement powers of the Revenue Departments as follows:
- Income tax, corporation tax and capital gains tax—Volume 2 (Cmnd. 8822) Notes 3, 7 and 23.
- Development land tax—Volume 3 (Cmnd. 9120) Notes 48 and 49.
- Petroleum revenue tax—Volume 3 (Cmnd. 9120) Notes 51 and 52.
- Capital transfer tax—Volume 3 (Cmnd. 9120) Notes 54 and 55.
- Stamp duties—Volume 3 (Cmnd. 9120) Notes 58, 59 and 60.
- VAT—Volume 2 Notes 4, 8 and 23.
Changes since 1979 relate to the coverage of the relevant powers—for instance, with the extension of PRT information powers to Advanced PRT—rather than to their relative strengths and weaknesses. I shall write to the hon. Member.