Inland Revenue (Hansard, 7 February 1991)

§ Mr. Norman Lamont

On 25 July 1990 my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister announced, at columns239–42, his decision to introduce changes which would enable the Inland Revenue to operate fully on "next steps" lines.

I have now approved a wide-ranging action plan, prepared by the Chairman of the board of Inland Revenue. The plan sets out a programme for extensive further internal delegation and accountability within the Department and for examining ways of reshaping the structure and organisation of work. Copies have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

The action plan includes launching the valuation offices for England and Wales and for Scotland as a single Executive agency on 30 September 1991, under its recently appointed chief executive-designate.

The key new feature of the plan is the establishment, within the present overall structure of the Inland Revenue, of 33 executive offices with an enhanced and more visible framework of management responsibilities and accountability. The executive offices will cover parts of the Department which have direct dealings with the public or which provide internal support services. They will include 56,800 staff, or about 85 per cent. of the Department. They will all be established by April 1992.

The executive offices will normally be in the charge of controllers who will be appointed directly by the chairman of the board of Inland Revenue. They will be given significantly increased delegated authorities to manage the financial, personnel and other resources within their charge.

Controllers will prepare framework documents, operating plans and annual reports for their offices. They will be personally accountable through their line managers to the board of Inland Revenue for how well their offices perform and for the quality of the services they provide. Framework documents, appropriate key targets and annual reports will be published.

The action plan also includes a new customer services plan, under which the Inland Revenue as a whole, and individual offices, will seek all possible means of improving the quality of service they provide to the public.

The action plan also looks forward to the longer-term possibility of other far-reaching changes in the Department's work and the way it can best be organised and managed. A number of experiments, pilot schemes and initiatives have been set up which will help to inform those decisions.

Finally, the action plan notes that a review has been considering how best the Revenue's information technology needs might be met throughout the 1990s, and subsequently. A report is currently being considered.

The Inland Revenue will remain a department headed by a chairman and board, and operating with a statutory 206W framework which defines the tasks of the department and the relationship between the chairman and the board on the one hand and Treasury Ministers on the other.

I am confident that the implementation of this action plan will enable the Inland Revenue to operate fully on "next steps" lines, and that the changes it foreshadows will strengthen responsibility and accountability within the Department, reinforce its commitment to efficiency, value for money and services to taxpayers, and enhance the Department's ability to respond to the needs of Government, Parliament and the public.