Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many individuals have been prosecuted for offshore tax evasion in each of the last five years for which data is available.

The total number of successful prosecutions of offshore tax evasion, for the 5 years from 2012/13 to 2016/17, is 20. These resulted in over 58 years of custodial sentences and 12 years of suspended sentences.

HM Revenue and Customs is not itself a prosecuting authority. All prosecutions must be authorised by the relevant independent prosecuting authority, which for England and Wales would be the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS); for Scotland, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS); and for NI, the Public Prosecution Service for NI, (PPSNI).