Treasury is failing, MPs declare

[jemima]

From the Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008 ... cs.economy

"Ashley Seager
The Guardian, Friday March 7 2008

The Treasury and related departments such as Revenue & Customs have serious shortcomings and should not have raised bonuses to senior civil servants last year, a committee of MPs says today.

The cross-party Treasury select committee's annual scrutiny of the chancellor's departments criticised the Treasury directly for not having appointed proper finance directors to all government departments as it was supposed to.

Michael Fallon, a Tory member of the committee, said: "The chancellor's departments, which are the engine of government spending, should be able to demonstrate clear progress against their targets. Sadly in some areas ... we have found them failing to lead by example. If they can't get this right, how can any other department be expected to?"

But the report was most scathing about Revenue & Customs, where it pointed to a decline in the quality of many of its services and a failure to improve its administration of tax credits. At the same time, the department was handing out bigger bonuses to senior staff.

Fallon said the department "appears to be rewarding failure. Complaints about the tax credits system are at the highest level for five years; there has been a considerable deterioration in its VAT service and yet senior staff have received on average a 60% increase in their bonus payments."

Vince Cable, Treasury spokesman for the Liberal Democrats, said: "With millions of personal records lost; a tax credit system in chaos and the debacle of Northern Rock, why on earth does the Treasury think it is appropriate to increase staff bonuses by 60%? The Treasury has been a failing department for several years and bonus payments should reflect that."

A Treasury spokesman said the department had met its efficiency goals."