§ Mr. HancockTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of(a) the scale of tobacco smuggling into Britain and (b) the success of the law enforcement agencies in tackling it; what plans he has for further measures to tackle tobacco smuggling; and if he will make a statement. [132137]
§ John HealeyEstimates of the scale of tobacco smuggling into the UK, and details of the successful strategy being applied to combat it are contained in "Tackling Tobacco Smuggling" (March 2000), "Tackling Indirect Tax Fraud" (November 2001) and "Protecting Indirect Tax Fraud" (November 2002), copies of which are available in the Library of the House.
Details of progress in 2002–03 will be reported around the time of the pre Budget Report.