§ Lord HARRIS of GREENWICHasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will state the approximate loss of revenue experienced by the Inland Revenue as the result of the existence of "ghost" workers in the newspaper industry in London; in how many newspaper offices have investigations taken place into this practice; and how many prosecutions have been instituted in each of the last five years.
§ Baroness BIRKThe Inland Revenue is currently reviewing the tax arrangements on the wages paid to casual workers in the Fleet Street printing industry as a whole, but I regret that no reliable estimate of tax loss is possible. I can confirm that there have been no prosecutions in this area over the last five years.