Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many illegal diesel plants have been discovered in Northern Ireland in the last five years; and where such plants were located.

In the last five complete years for which figures are available HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) dismantled the following numbers of fuel laundering sites in Northern Ireland:

2009-10: 16

2010-11: 20

2011-12: 29

2012-13: 22

2013-14: 38

HMRC does not split its reporting data by specific location. Normally it records and reports data as a national statistic but, due to unique factors relating to oils fraud, it does separate out figures for Northern Ireland for oils offences.

HMRC fights fraud on a wide range of fronts, from special units performing thousands of roadside checks to raiding laundering plants. The UK has recently announced, jointly with Ireland, an improved new marker for rebated fuel, which will make it much harder to launder marked fuel and sell it at a profit.