§ Mr. Geoffrey Lloydasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will state for the latest convenient period of one year, how many successful prosecutions have been undertaken for non-payment of Purchase Tax on articles of gold and silver jewellery, and how many for evasion of the hallmarking laws and Merchandise Marks Act; to what extent such offences have increased or decreased over previous years; and what assessment he has made of the factors causing such evasion.
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§ Mr. Harold LeverFive persons were convicted for the evasion of Purchase Tax on gold or silver jewellery in the year ended 31st March, 1968, compared with 3 persons in 1967 and one person in 1966. In the calendar year 1968, 157 persons were convicted in England and Wales for offences against the Merchandise Marks Acts, compared with 134 in 1967, and 143 in 1966. I regret that statistics of offences connected with hall-marking are not separately recorded.
I do not think that these figures indicate any significant trend towards increased evasion, but we shall continue to keep a close watch on the situation.