§ Mr. Matthew BanksTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when the next steps review of the Inland Revenue will commence.
§ Sir George YoungIn April 1992,day-to-day responsibility for assessing and collecting the taxes for which the Inland Revenue is responsible and for providing support services to the Department was given to a number
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Revised table 1.5: The public spending plans1: After changes announced on 8 December £ billion Estimated Outturn New plans Changes from previous plans 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 Control Total by department Social Security2 70.4 72.8 76.0 79.2 1.5 -0.2 -0.3 Health 31.7 33.0 33.3 34.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 DOE—Local Government 29.9 30.3 30.9 30.9 0.0 -0.5 -1.5 DOE—Other 9.4 8.7 9.6 8.6 -0.1 -0.6 -0.6 Scotland, Wales and N. Ireland 28.3 28.9 29.3 29.6 0.0 -0.4 -0.6 Defence 22.5 21.7 21.9 22.3 -0.3 -0.3 -0.2 Education 10.5 11.0 11.2 11.2 0.0 -0.2 -0.2 Home Office 6.3 6.4 6.4 6.6 0.0 -0.1 -0.1 Transport 6.1 4.4 4.4 5.1 0.3 -1.1 -0.9 Other departments 23.6 23.7 23.2 23.0 0.8 -0.3 -0.5 Local Authority self-financed expenditure 11.9 11.8 12.0 12.2 1.0 0.7 0.8 Reserve — 3.0 5.7 8.7 -3.5 -4.0 -4.8 Adjustment -1.0 — — — -1.0 — — Control Total 249.6 255.5 262.8 271.5 -1.3 -7.0 -8.9 -real terms3 244.7 242.6 243.5 246.0 3.5 -0.7 -2.2 -real growth4 1.4 -0.8 0.4 1.0 Cyclical social security 14.1 14.0 14.0 14.4 -0.7 -1.5 -2.2 Central Government debt interest 22.1 24.5 26.0 26.2 -0.4 0.1 0.4 Accounting adjustments 9.5 10.7 12.5 12.7 0.2 0.2 0.9 General Government Expenditure excluding privatization proceeds 295.2 304.8 315.4 324.8 -2.1 -8.3 -9.8 - real terms3 289.4 289.4 292.1 294.2 3.6 -0.7 -1.9 - real growth4 2.3 0.0 0.9 0.7 — — — - per cent. of GDP 43.50 42.50 41.75 40.75 — — — 1 For definitions, rounding and other conventions, see notes in Annex A to Chapter 6. 2 Excluding cyclical social security 3 1993–94 prices 4Per cent. of executive offices. Each office agreed its own framework document, and all operate fully on next steps lines. In accordance with Government guidelines, a review of the executive office arrangements will begin in January 1995, with the aim of reporting to Ministers by 31 December 1995.
The review will cover the evaluation of the executive offices' performance; reconsideration of the way that their functions are organised and delivered—by reference to the prior operations tests set out in the 1993 "Next Steps Review" (Cm 2430)—and the revision of their framework documents as appropriate. A similar review of the Valuation Office Agency, the revenue's only executive agency, has already been announced and began on 1 August 1994.
Comments and contributions from those who are interested in the Revenue and its work would be welcome and should be sent by 15 March 1995 to Mary Hay, Inland Revenue Next Steps Review, Room 25, New Wing, Somerset house, Strand, London WC2R 1LB.