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Times
Past
Customs and Excise Investigation Bureau —
Detective Allowance
Requests under the Freedom of Information Act often provide
very useful information; one such request revealed that
in times past the staff of the Customs and Excise Investigation
Bureau were entitled to a ‘detective’ allowance
of £9.36 per day. According to an internal memorandum,
the payment (introduced in 1937) was intended to:
- buy drink and cigarettes for and to
give gratuities to informers;
- purchase sporting papers;
- give small gratuities to betting touts;
- pay for bus fares;
- pay the extra cost of meals;
- provide disguises.
In 1998, £49,059 was paid in respect of this allowance.
However, in January 2000 the Revenue concluded that: ‘It
is the position today that the basis on which the payment
of the daily allowance was originally put in place and subsequently
maintained through Revenue Departmental Council agreements
has completed altered …’ As a result, the payment
of this allowance ceased in February 2000. One wonders if
the Freedom of Information request made in November 1998
had anything to do with the decision.
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