Written question asked by Lord Laird (Ulster Unionist Party), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Lord Sassoon (Conservative) on Monday, 27 September 2010.

Smuggling

Question: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of how much HM Treasury has lost in revenue from all forms of smuggling in South Armagh in each of the last three years.

Answer: Estimates of the revenue lost from all forms of smuggling in South Armagh are not available because it is not possible to split revenue losses between regions. However, estimates of the illicit market for excise goods for the whole of the UK for 2007-08 have been published by HMRC in Measuring Tax Gaps-2009 in November 2009, which is available in the House of Commons Library and can be found on the Internet at http://www.hmrc.qov.uk/stats/measuring-tax-.qaps.htm.

Secondary information