Will HMRC cuts become the data loss scapegoat?

Kieran Poynter has a busy fortnight ahead. He has until 14 December to report to the chancellor on HM Revenue & Customs’ inability to keep taxpayer information confidential

So it falls to the PricewaterhouseCoopers senior partner to answer many of the tough questions that the catastrophic admissions of the last ten days have thrown up. Are HMRC practices and procedures for handling and transferring confidential data sufficiently robust? And do the processes for ensuring that those practices and procedures are communicated and adhered to actually work?

If that was all the report was about, we needn’t wait with baited breath. Clearly, the answer to both those questions is ‘no’. More significant will be Poynter’s interim suggestions on ‘any further, urgent measures that HMRC should put in place to guarantee the data confidentiality’.

There’s been no shortage of scapegoating (though Paul Gray was right to resign) and politicking in recent days. Nevertheless, in reviewing arrangements, Poynter cannot afford to ignore a key political issue ­ resourcing. He is bound to turn to July’s report by the Commons Treasury committee on how implementation of government efficiency arrangements are affecting Whitehall.

HMRC needs to save £507m and cut 16,000 jobs April. Committee members were clear that even though HMRC is well down the road on delivering those savings, all is far from well: ‘The indicators used by HMRC to measure the quality of its services are not adequate to assess the experience of service users’.

His brief may say otherwise, but Poynter will find it hard to avoid his views being seen as contributing to the debate about whether HMRC cuts have gone too far.

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