Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many evasion referrals were made to the HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) Evasion Referral Team in each year since 2012-13; and how many such referrals were adopted as working cases by HMRC's (a) Criminal Investigation, (b) Specialist Investigation and (c) Local Compliance Fraud business unit in each such year.

The figures requested are in the following table:

The referrals are made by HMRC officers when they suspect or discover evasion. The process is designed to escalate this type of case to a specialist team for review. If the case is not adopted by one of these teams it is returned to the referring officer to continue the investigation.