§ Mr. Parryasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he is satisfied with the establishment of Her Majesty's Customs and Excise in respect of the drug seizures made in Liverpool and Merseyside over recent years; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Hayhoe[pursuant to his reply, 26 April 1984, c. 606]: Over the past five years Customs and Excise has reduced the numbers of staff employed on customs work in its Liverpool collection (as defined in 1979) to reflect reduced volumes of traffic. At the same time the fight against drug smuggling has been maintained by increased specialist investigation efforts, together with improvements in intelligence gathering which lead to a better targeting of operations.