§ Mr. AingerTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what changes he plans to implement in the number and the location of Customs and Excise officers in Wales; and if he will make a statement;
(2) how many Customs and Excise officers were based in Wales dealing with (a) VAT, (b) import controls, including checking passengers at airports and ports, (c) coastal surveillance and (d) general intelligence in September 1979, September 1990 and September 1994; and what is the planned number in September 1995.
§ Mr. Heathcoat-Amory[holding answer 24 February 1995]: As part of the implementation of the fundamental expenditure review, Customs and Excise currently plans the following changes in Wales which will take place over the next five years: 399W
Locations Officers at 23 February 1995 Officers at 31 March 2000 Cardiff 205 275 Merthyr 22 0 Newport 17 0 Swansea 96 40 Haverfordwest 12 0 Carmarthen 49 79.5 Bangor 0 18 Colwyn Bay 26 0 Pembroke Dock Excise 7 0 Aberystwyth 5 4 Newtown 6 0 Customs 98 47.5 Total 543 464 Over recent years, customs enforcement strategy has progressively moved away from a static presence at all ports and airports towards more flexible, better targeted checks operated by fast response teams. Accordingly, customs staff are deployed flexibly throughout Wales and it would not be in the public interest to identify their location in greater detail.
Customs and Excise does not keep reports of local resource deployment for 1979. Its planning system does not easily allow it to identify staffing levels at a mid-point in the year and the figures in the schedule are, therefore, for fiscal years. The import control figures in the schedule include a small element of export freight resources which cannot easily be identified and excluded. Coastal surveillance is not a separately identified activity within Customs and Excise's operational planning system, so the figures requested under categories (c) and (d) are included as a global figure headed "Intelligence" in the schedule.
Customs and Excise officers based in Wales 1990–91 1994–95 1995–96 VAT 357.0 306.0 256.5 Import controls1 186.0 88.5 70.5 Intelligence2 16.0 29.0 51.0 1 Includes a small element of export freight resources 2 Includes both coastal and other intelligence.