Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment has he made of the effect of trends in the level of staff in HMRC on rates of (a) tax avoidance and (b) tax evasion.

Information on staff levels and HMRC performance is published in the Annual Report and Accounts: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hmrc-annual-report-and-accounts-2017-to-2018.

Tax gap estimates are published in HMRC’s report ‘Measuring Tax Gaps: 2018 edition’ available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/measuring-tax-gaps.