§ Ms. WalleyTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will give the details of the timetable he expects to implement in respect of converting Inland Revenue departments to agency status.
§ Mr. Maude[holding 18 November 1991]: My right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced on 7 February 1991—Official Report, c. 205–6—a wide-ranging action plan, prepared by the chairman of the Board of Inland Revenue, to introduce changes by April 1992 which would enable the Department to operate fully on "next steps" lines and improve its service to the public. This action plan is being implemented on schedule.
The valuation offices for England and Wales and for Scotland were launched as a single Valuation Office Agency within the Inland Revenue on 30 September. Copies of the agency's framework document have been placed in the Library. The agency's objectives and targets for 1991–92, as agreed by Ministers for the valuation offices at the start of the year, are reproduced in the table.
For the rest of the department, as already announced 33 executive offices are being set up within the Inland Revenue to deal with the work of assessing and collecting the taxes and duties for which it is responsible, and for support services. The head of each office will have significant delegated responsibilities for managing the people and the resources in the office and will be personally accountable for its performance. All 33 executive offices will be set up by April 1992. Framework documents setting out their responsibilities and delegated authorities, and describing their accounting and financial systems and performance measures, will be published at that time.
The action plan also noted that the future organisation of the Inland Revenue's information technology division was under consideration. It has now been decided that the division will also become an Inland Revenue executive office in April 1992. As with the other 33 executive offices, a framework document will set out the authorities to be delegated to the director of technology and the enhanced responsibilities and accountability the director will have 143W for providing the best quality of service and value for money. The question of an agency for IT services will be reconsidered in 1994, in the light of the department's IT needs at the time and its experience of operating on "next steps" lines.
These changes will mean that over 95 per cent. of the Inland Revenue's staff will be working in the Valuation Office Agency or one of the 34 executive offices by April 1992.
The "next steps" initiative is making good progress in the Inland Revenue and I am confident that it will enable the department to improve its efficiency and quality of service in the interest both of taxpayers and the staff of the department.
Valuation Office Agency: 1991–92 objectives and targets The Valuation Office Agency's objectives and targets for the current year, as agreed by Ministers and published in the Inland Revenue's operating plan, include financial, efficiency, effectiveness and quality elements. They are:
- —to clear 834,300 cases relating to rating work, valuations for Inland Revenue taxes and other work.
- —to maintain gross expenditure within a ceiling of £125 million (excluding superannuation and capital) and to match the forecast of £126.5 million receipts from charges.
- —to reduce the number of local offices from 124 to 120
- —to achieve the improvements in productivity and efficiency targeted below.
Detailed targets:
1991–92 target 1990–91 actual Valuer productivity (weighted work outputs per valuer) 324 312 Overall local office productivity (weighted outputs per staff year) 121 119 Unit costs (full cost, constant 1990–91 prices) —Rating work £ 185 229 —Revenue work £ 154 153 —Other work £ 138 137 Clearance of rating work on 1990 rating list: pre-October 1990 appeals outstanding at year end 362,000 623,000 Timeliness (per cent, of work completed to external and internal time limits) 82 80 Valuations accurancy (per cent, valuations settled within ± 10 per cent, of initial valuation when facts settled) 80 78.8 Targets for work in connection with the proposed council tax will be set in due course.
§ Ms. WalleyTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will give details of the organisation and structure reviews within the Inland Revenue department.
§ Mr. Maude[holding 18 November 1991]: A review of the Inland Revenue's organisation and structure was commissioned in April 1991 as part of the department's response to the "next steps" programme.
The review is being undertaken by a team of Inland Revenue officials and consultants from Andersen Consulting and Kinsley Lord with experience of other large organisations in the public and private sectors. They will be reporting to the board by the end of December.