Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent steps his Department has taken to control smuggling at the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

HMRC is not a border agency and does not police the Irish Land Boundary however, it deploys a wide range of intervention measures to ensure that it can effectively detect, deter and disrupt attacks on the tax system. Any anti smuggling operations at the Border are highly targeted and are undertaken on the basis of intelligence and risk profiling. Multi-agency cross border cooperation is a key element in combatting Cross Border smuggling and HMRC work closely with partner law enforcement agencies on both sides of the border. HMRC are a key partner in the Joint Agency Taskforce (JATF) established in 2016 under the auspices of the Stormont House Agreement (SHA). The JATF comprises Law Enforcement Agencies from across the island of Ireland is focussed on tackling border criminality and HMRC are active participants in both the strategic oversight and operational groups. HMRC also play a proactive role in the Organised Crime Task Force, chairing the Cross Border Fuel Fraud Group and also co-chair a Cross Border Excise Fraud Group.