§ Mr. AingerTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) if he will list those ports and airports which do not have permanently staffed Customs checks and operate a system whereby entrants telephone Customs if they have anything to declare; and how many calls were received by Customs on its telephone in each month of 1993 and 1994;
(2) if he will list those ports and airports in which Customs checks are not permanently staffed.
§ Mr. Heathcoat-Amory[holding answer 8 December 1994]: There are no Custom-free ports or airports. Over recent years customs enforcement strategy has progressively moved away from a static presence at all ports and airports towards more flexible checks operated by fast response teams targeted at both areas and time of highest risk. At major ports and airports these anti-smuggling teams are based on site; the smaller places being covered by mobile anti-smuggling teams based elsewhere. It would not be in the public interest to identify all these smaller ports and airports.
As a part of the overall Customs strategy, which encompasses both anti-smuggling and fiscal controls, there are some locations where entrants can telephone Customs if they have anything to declare for fiscal purposes. A list of such locations is shown in the table and where the information is available, the number of 652W calls received by customs for each of 1993 and 1994 is also shown.
Humberside international airport
Telephone introduced in April 1993, three calls received to date but no record of months.Leeds Bradford airport
No record kept of the number of calls received but estimated by local management at round six per month.Bristol airport The total calls received were as follows:
Plymouth. The total calls received were as follows:
1993 1994 January 6 1 February 6 0 March 6 5 April 6 4 May 12 2 June 9 0 July 9 2 August 6 2 September 7 2 October 5 9 November 3 3 December 2 0
Belfast city airport No record of any calls received in either year Blackpool airport Bournemouth (Hurn) airport Cambridge airport Cardiff Wales airport Dundee airport Southampton international airport