HC Deb 13 March 1995 vol 256 c362W
Mr. Frank Cook

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much the Government have spent on the detection of tax fraud for each year since 1979.

Sir George Young

The costs of investigating tax offences which actually amount to fraud are not separately identifiable. However, the costs of investigations carried out by the Inland Revenue into tax evasion, which includes fraud, during the last five years, were as follows:

Year Spending £ million
1989–90 89
1990–91 103
1991–92 115
1992–93 124
1993–94 137

Comparable figures for earlier years are not available.