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Lord Agnew recently gave evidence to the Treasury Committee about fraud in the various Covid loan and support schemes – I strongly suggest you watch at least part of the session – you won’t regret it (tinyurl.com/5a39rsv6). Lord Agnew was the minister who resigned at the dispatch box because he was no longer able to support the government’s approach to handling the fraud. His evidence was astonishingly frank – I don’t think that I have ever heard such direct criticism of a department and its permanent secretary from one of its former ministers. It was also highly amusing: at one point he described himself as the minister for everything that no one else wanted to do.
Inevitably the press coverage was dominated by the most critical comments – his description of the Treasury’s approach as a Dad’s Army operation was picked up by most of the headline writers. But in fact the picture is more complex. Lord Agnew recognised that across government there was considerable expertise in understanding and tackling fraud – HMRC’s expertise was properly acknowledged – and that the real issue is the siloed mentality within the civil service which prevents proper co-ordination and ensuring that the best people are used where they have the greatest impact.
His is only one view, albeit an informed one which commands respect, and I suspect that the civil service will seek to challenge much of what he says. But if the result of his intervention is a more joined-up approach across government that can only be to the good. This might just be one of those moments where the tectonic plates start to move. Let’s hope so.
If you do one thing...
Read HMRC’s report on raising standards in the tax advice market (tinyurl.com/hmrcstanrep). Is this going in the right direction?
