Written question asked by Vincent Cable (Liberal Democrat) on Friday, 27 October 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 31 October 2006. It was answered by Baroness Primarolo (Labour) on Tuesday, 7 November 2006 on behalf of the Treasury.

VAT Fraud

Question: (2) what the total value is of fines which were imposed for VAT missing trader intra-community fraud in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement;

Answer: Prior to the creation of HMRC, HM Customs and Excise published the information requested in relation to fraud cases reported for civil investigation and criminal prosecution, and subsequent convictions each year in their Annual Report. Copies of the Annual Reports are available in the Library of the House. Since the creation of HMRC, these statistics have not been published. Where information is not published, it is not collated in the format requested.The Government remain determined to tackle MTIC VAT fraud, and the criminals perpetrating it, and a comprehensive strategy involving both operational and legislative measures has been developed. HMRC has committed significant additional resources to strengthen its strategy for tackling MTIC fraud, and there are now over 1,400 staff engaged in that work.I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 2 May 2006, Official Report, columns 1455-456W, which details the measures.

Secondary information