The Efficiency Programme In The Chancellor S Departments

Volume one of this report was published as HCP 483-I, session 2006-07 (ISBN 9780215035332)

This is the first annual scrutiny by the Treasury Committee of the Chancellor of Exchequer's Departments. The Committee sets out a number of conclusions and recommendations, including: that the Treasury should include within its' annual reports a summary of the results of the annual surveys of stakeholder opinion and the Treasury's response to stakeholders; the Committee recommends that the Treasury set itself a target to ensure that the Public Service Agreements finalised as part of the next Spending Review in 2009 or 2010 include a clear statement about the resources to be allocated across Government to the delivery of each Agreement; the Committee criticises the Treasury's failure to meet its objective for the appointment of professionally-qualified Finance Directors in all Departments by December 2006 and that a relevant accountancy qualification be described as an essental criterion in all future post advertisements; the Committee views the Value for Money Delivery Agreements across Government as disappointing, and wants the Government to develop programmes that measure quality of service and efficiency effectively; the Committee commends the Royal Mint's return to profitability but is concerned about the ambitious target set for next year; that the Office of Government Commerce has failed to publish a regular annual report; the Committee expresses surprise that HM Revenue and Customs had approved a 60% increase in senior civil service bonus payments over a period of poor performance and headcount reductions, also the Committee highlights the problems experienced in VAT registrations and the failure of HMRC to meet its processing target of VAT receipts as well as poor administration of tax credits.

The Treasury Sub-Committee calls for much greater transparency from the Treasury in accounting for the liabilities taken on by the nationalisation and part-nationalisation of financial institutions. The report recommends that these disclosures appear in the annual Treasury resource accounts. Furthermore they should be at least as comprehensive as those made by major corporations and go further than meeting the minimum acceptable accounting standards. In particular, the Report notes that the Treasury's 2007-08 Annual Report and Accounts cover the Government's financial relationship with Northern Rock but do not comment on its performance under temporary public ownership. Given the level of interest in the fully nationalised institutions of Northern Rock and Bradford & Bingley, and the Treasury's role in their governance, the report recommends that key performance information for these institutions be published in the resource accounts as well. The wholesale nationalisation of Northern Rock, and Bradford & Bingley has created governance responsibilities for the Treasury while these entities remain under public ownership. The Government's announcements of October 2008 created further responsibilities regarding the oversight of part-nationalised banks, and created a new body, UK Financial Investments (UKFI). The report calls for UKFI to report annually to Parliament and to be accountable to the Treasury Committee. The Committee wants the Government to identify and publish performance indicators for UKFI, and to report against these measures on a six-monthly basis. All these developments are additional challenges for the Treasury and require it to act in areas its current staff base may not be fully equipped for or familiar with. The Government must ensure the Treasury is sufficiently resourced to manage the extended responsibilities arising from the economic downturn, especially those regarding financial stability.

efficiency programme in the Chancellor's Departments : Eighth report of session 2006-07, Vol. 1: Report, together with formal Minutes

The Chancellor's departments faced extraordinary challenges during 2008-09, mainly arising from the need to respond to the emerging financial crisis and associated economic downturn. The report concludes that it is very difficult to draw final conclusions regarding their level of success - too much remains unfinished business. It draws attention, in particular, to the new relationship between the Treasury and UKFI, and recommends that the Government considers whether the formal terms of the relationship need some re-definition in the light of experience. The report is particularly concerned by the dire results for HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) of a cross-Government staff survey pilot study. The Report calls for HMRC management to publish a clear and detailed plan to provide focus and direction to their efforts to re-engage with their workforce. Noting a rise in customer complaints and that, on average, only 57 per cent of calls to HMRC contact centres were answered during 2008-09. HMRC should publish more data to enable effective scrutiny of its performance against its targets, data which is essential for tax gaps to be closed and for the take up of the working tax credit to be assessed and improved. The Report is critical of the failure of most departments to provide accurate and timely monthly in-year figures to the Treasury. Other sections of the report cover National Savings & Investment, the revaluation of UK statutory ports and the performance of the Royal Mint.

This report is in five main sections: overall spending issues; efficiency and value for money; the new performance management framework; child poverty; and individual spending settlements. The planned rate of growth of public spending is set to be considerably slower than the rate of growth of recent years. This could lead to cost pressures on departmental spending as there will be a greater proportional growth in the Annual Managed Expenditure. There will also be cost pressures from public sector wage settlements, population growth and needs in particular sectors. The efficiency programmes are highly ambitious but the Committee recommends that savings should only be recorded if it could be shown that service standards have been maintained. There is a welcome for the decision not to impose explicit targets for reduction in Civil Service numbers. On child poverty the Committee note a possible tension between the target to halve child poverty by 2010-11 and that of eliminating child poverty by 2020. There is a concern that the Government has drawn back from a whole-hearted commitment to meet the 2010 target. They want the Government to either initiate a debate on the trade-off between the two targets or rededicate itself to the 2010-11 target, making it clear that the resources are available within the Comprehensive Spending Review.

The office of Lord Chancellor is one that has frequently been questioned. However,the extent and diversity of the questioning seldom attained the proportions reached in the final years of the twentieth century, when they drew attention to the deficiencies of the position of Lord Chancellor, the inherent tensions within that position and the incongruity of such a role in a modern democracy. This book examines these questions. It analyses the development and current position of the Lord Chancellor as head of the judiciary, member of the Cabinet, judge and Speaker in the House of Lords and considers his role in relation to judicial appointments. It also looks at the LCD, the development of which acts as an indicator of the changes in the office of Lord Chancellor. It concludes by making proposals for reform, the most far-reaching of which is the abolition of the office.

This report is in four main sections: the first looks at the state of the economy, the second examines public finances, the third covers tax measure s, and the fourth miscellaneous issues such as the Girshon programme of efficiency savings and the Comprehensive Spending Review. It is based on evidence sessions: from outside experts, Treasury officials, and the Chancellor as well as written submissions and is published before the Second Reading of the Finance Bill..