Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the average time is that the fraud investigation department of HMRC takes to (a) carry out investigations and (b) receive confirmation from the Crown Prosecution Service of a decision to prosecute; and if he will make a statement.

The duration of a case is calculated as the time from the start of the case to the close, which includes the trial outcome and where relevant the issuing of a confiscation order. Criminal cases can vary significantly in their size and complexity with some cases concluding within a few months, whilst others can take years. Last year, one of our longest running cases concluded after over ten years.

For cases that closed in 2018, the mean duration of a criminal case is 15 months and the median is 10 months.