To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment has been made of the relationship between the price of class ‘A’ drugs across the UK and changes in the border control regime since the implementation of the HM Revenue and Customs Law Enforcement Business Plan in 2003. (101819)

HMRC are an intelligence-led, risk-based organization and deploy their resources accordingly. The price of drugs is factored into the Home Office overarching strategy to which HMRC contributes. Price in itself is one factor in the way we design our border control regime.

Changes in the price of class ‘A’ drugs in the UK are due to a number of factors, for example availability, purity, level of use and social trends. To attempt to isolate an individual factor would not produce an accurate reflection of the reasons behind a change in drugs prices.