§ Mr. Clellandasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many persons were (a) prosecuted and (b) convicted for offences of fraud against Her Majesty's Inland Revenue and Her Majesty's Customs and Excise in each of the years since 1979.
§ Mr. Norman Lamont[pursuant to his reply, 23 January 1987, c. 62]: The details in respect of the Inland Revenue are:
520W
Persons prosecuted Convictions 1979–80 150 142 1980–81 189 172 1981–82 176 146 1982–83 142 134 1983–84 159 148 1984–85 239 233 1985–86 254 242 In addition the number of convictions obtained by the police in each of the years since 1979 for tax frauds in connection with the construction industry tax deduction scheme was:
Number 1979–80 10 1980–81 15 1981–82 27 1982–83 3 1983–84 5 1984–85 8 1985–86 74 For Customs and Excise, comprehensive information in the form requested is not held centrally, and could be assembled only at disproportionate cost. The following table shows numbers of persons prosecuted and convicted for a variety of Customs and Excise offences, including fraud, in cases handled by specialist investigation staff. Cases dealt with by other Customs and Excise staff are not included.
Number of persons prosecuted Number of persons convicted 1979–80 856 819 1980–81 802 739 1981–82 1,065 1,008 1982–83 1,010 944 1983–84 1,462 1,349 1984–85 1,201 1,092 1985–86 1,271 1,104