HC Deb 23 July 1984 vol 64 cc711-2
47. Mr. Eggar

asked the Minister for the Civil Service how many civil servants are engaged in the implementation of the financial management initiative.

The Minister of State, Treasury (Mr. Barney Hayhoe)

As these changes take root in Departments there is increasingly no clear-cut distinction between staff working in connection with the financial management initiative and the line managers and others who plan and allocate resources. During 1983–84 some 300 staff were directly engaged in developing and implementing the plans published last year.

Mr. Eggar

Is my hon. Friend aware that the progress made on FMI is extremely encouraging? When does he expect that his Department will publish the next White Paper? Is he satisfied that Departments are making sufficient information public about the implementation of FMI within their Department? Recently a number of Departments have refused to place the information in the Library.

Mr. Hayhoe

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his encouraging remarks. The White Paper which was promised for the end of July, will, I think, be published on Wednesday of this week. It will have a separate chapter covering each Department's contribution to the work. My hon. Friend will be aware that I favour the widest possible publication.

Mr. Terry Davis

Will the Minister ensure that this FMI does not result in local managers following the example of the assistant group controller who is alleged to have told Inland Revenue staff that they should reduce their work load by tearing up letters from taxpayers and ignoring refunds for previous years to which taxpayers may be entitled?

Mr. Hayhoe

I have seen press reports to that effect, but I have no idea of the truth of the matter. I shall certainly be looking into it and will write to the hon. Gentleman.

Mr. Forman

Can my hon. Friend confirm that all Departments in Whitehall are now fully engaged in the FMI? What is his latest estimate of the financial savings expected to flow from it?

Mr. Hayhoe

It is better for me not to pre-empt the White Paper that is coming later this week. I ask my hon. Friend to await its publication. I am sure that he will study it carefully and see that encouraging progress is being made.

Mr. Dalyell

What instructions have been given to civil servants to draw up contingency plans for clawing back the £1,000 that has been given to many employees at Cheltenham should the judgment of Mr. Justice Glidewell be upheld by Lord Lane and his colleagues?

Mr. Hayhoe

If such contingency plans were needed, and I do not comment upon that at all, they would be a matter for my right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs.

Dr. McDonald

Should not the FMI be far more interested than it is with the quality of service? Is the Minister aware that in the Inland Revenue the count of unanswered post at the moment stands at over 3.5 million, much the same as it was last year? Future plans to reduce Inland Revenue staff by one in four—far more than is needed for computerisation—mean that the public can expect no better service in the future as a result of this initiative than they have now.

Mr. Hayhoe

I repudiate the broad thrust of what the hon. Lady is saying, although I admire her ingenuity in bringing that aspect of Treasury affairs into Question Time today.