§ Mr. RuffleyTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer on what basis Customs and Excise allocate staff members to tackle(a) drug trafficking and (b) tobacco smuggling; and if he will make a statement. [20405]
§ Mr. BoatengThe Law Enforcement function of HM Customs and Excise presently has around 7,000 staff—based across the UK and overseas—and broadly divided between detection, investigation and intelligence arms. A great many of these staff, particularly uniformed officers at ports and airports, are trained to act multifunctionally in order to deal with detections of drugs, tobacco and all other contrabands. Customs deploys its enforcement staff on a flexible resourcing-to-risk basis with a view to delivering the strategic outcomes to which it is committed in the drugs and tobacco areas as well as meeting its commitments in other tax fraud and criminal areas in which it has a responsibility. National. regional and local intelligence assessments inform the day-to-day allocation of resources to specific tasks at specific locations.