To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much HM Revenue and Customs spent on the Tackling Tobacco Smuggling strategy in (a) 2011-12 and (b) 2012-13; how many of his Department's staff worked on implementing the strategy in each such year; and how many such staff were engaged in (i) detection, (ii) intelligence-gathering and analysis, (iii) investigations and (iv) the provision of legal advice.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) total expenditure on tobacco work was £68.918 million in 2011-12 and £67.641 million in 2012-13. This includes administration and policy, as well as enforcement.

It is not possible to provide the information in the format requested as HMRC does not record the number of staff spent working on the tackling tobacco strategy separately. To the extent that the Government is able to breakdown the number of staff engaged on tobacco related activity this is detailed in the following table:

These figures represent HMRC's best estimate of the way resources were used in the years specified, bearing in mind that staff employed on anti-fraud activity often cover a number of different taxes and commodities. HMRC is unable to disaggregate time spent on the provision of legal advice on tobacco from time spent on other advisory work.