asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many employees in the Customs and Excise deal with (a) scrutiny of imports and import documentation and (b) preparing charges for breaches of legislation affecting imports and ensuring that import quotas of textiles are adhered to.

The Customs and Excise staff effort directly employed on the control of imports and associated work, including non-revenue controls, is estimated to be about 8,500 man years. I regret that it is not practicable to isolate from other import work the customs staff effort expended on preparing charges for breaches of legislation affecting imports and ensuring that import quotas of textiles are adhered to.