§ Mr. LawsTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his estimate is of the proportion of the market share of UK consumed cigarettes accounted for by smuggled product for the latest year for which information is available; and if he will make a statement. [20339]
§ Mr. BoatengI refer the hon. Member to page 11 of the Customs and Excise paper "Measuring Indirect Tax Fraud" published on 27 November 2001, a copy of which is in the Library of the House
The Customs and Excise paper, "Tackling Indirect Tax Fraud", also published on 27 November 2001 and a copy of which is also in the Library of the House, sets out the results of the first year of the Government's Tackling Tobacco Smuggling strategy. These results show that the Government's strategy is on target to achieve its aim of putting cigarette smuggling into decline within three years