Asked by: Lord Agnew of Oulton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government, with regard to page 39 of their policy paper Spending Review 2025: Departmental Efficiency Plans, published on 11 June, how many legacy IT systems and platforms are (1) currently operated by HMRC; and (2) scheduled for decommissioning by 2028–29 under the software as a service transition strategy.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC is in the process of finalising its implementation plan of the Spending Review 2025 following receipt of the settlement. The department is planning the sequencing and prioritisation of activity to ensure they can deliver the departments commitments, tackle technical debt and mitigate risks. This will include assessing the impact of legacy IT systems and platforms as part of the Software as a Service (SaaS) transition strategy.
HMRC is taking a phased approach to meet its efficiency target whilst balancing and maintaining operational resilience. To support this, HMRC has undertaken a detailed assessment of its digital estate, which includes over 4 million physical assets (i.e., network equipment, disk arrays, servers, laptops, desktops).
The complex IT estate HMRC operates requires careful coordination to identify systems for decommissioning or migration by 2028-29. Therefore, decommissioning and upgrading activities are being delivered through several different change programmes. The long-term delivery plan will be finalised in the autumn, at which point there will be a clearer indication of the number of IT systems which will be decommissioned by 2028-29.
Asked by: Lord Agnew of Oulton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what explains the increase in Departmental Expenditure Limit reserves between the Spring Statement 2025 and Spending Review 2025.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The change in the 2025 Departmental Expenditure Limit Reserves between Spring Statement 2025 and Spending Review 2025 is a result of changes to department budgets authorised by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury.
This includes Reserve claims paid at Main Supply Estimates, which are detailed in departments individual Main Estimates memoranda and surrenders made from department budgets back to the Reserve at the Spending Review.
Asked by: Lord Agnew of Oulton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what criteria will be used to release the £7.1 billion in unallocated Departmental Expenditure Limit reserves by 2028–29, and whether they intend that such allocations will be subject to parliamentary approval or set out in a Written Ministerial Statement.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The £7.1bn in Departmental Expenditure Limit Reserves in 2028-29 will be allocated subject to approval from the Chief Secretary to the Treasury and in line with the criteria set out in chapter 2 of the Consolidated Budgeting Guidance, the 2025-26 version of which can be found on GOV.UK.
Depending on when in the financial year the Chief Secretary agrees to allocate funding, Reserve allocations will be included in Main and Supplementary Estimates, which are voted on by Parliament. Departments will include these amounts in their Estimates memorandum.
Asked by: Lord Agnew of Oulton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what the current responsibilities of accounting officers are, and where these responsibilities are formally set out in statute, guidance, or other official publications.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Accounting Officer in a central government organisation is the person whom Parliament calls to account for stewardship of its resources. The standards the Accounting Officer is expected to deliver are set out in Managing Public Money, which more broadly sets out the main principles, specific requirements and good practice for dealing with public resources.
Furthermore, section 5(7) of the Government Resources and Accounts Act 2000 places statutory responsibility on each department’s accounting officer for;
Asked by: Lord Agnew of Oulton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what changes have been made to the duties, responsibilities or expectations of accounting officers following the publication of the "Dear Accounting Officer" letter 02/25 on 12 June, and the revised version of Managing Public Money to which it refers.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The key themes and principles underpinning previous versions of Managing Public Money are unchanged, and likewise the core duties, responsibilities and expectations of accounting officers remain the same.
The update to Managing Public Money incorporates a number of clarifications and changes, and accounting officers should ensure these are followed as appropriate as part of their duties to ensure regularity and propriety in the use of public resources.
As set out in the Dear Accounting Officer letter DAO 02/25, the 2025 edition of Managing Public Money includes the following revisions and additions.
Asked by: Lord Agnew of Oulton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government, with regard to their policy paper Spending Review 2025: Departmental Efficiency Plans, published on 11 June, which states that a zero-based review will help the Treasury "get smaller", whether they will publish the outputs of this review; and what proportion of administrative functions are expected to be outsourced, automated, or removed entirely by 2028–29.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
As part of the Spending Review 2025, HM Treasury, alongside all government departments, undertook a zero-based review (ZBR) of its expenditure. This review was performed as per the requirements of the Spending Review. The outputs are intended for internal decision-making processes, not for publication. The Spending Review settlement for HMT means the department will need to get smaller, delivering a 10% reduction in its admin budgets by 2028-29. The detailed business planning process to achieve those reductions, including a review of administrative functions, over the Spending Review period is currently in progress. The outputs from the ZBR are being used to support this.
Asked by: Lord Agnew of Oulton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government, with regard to page 40 of their policy paper Spending Review 2025: Departmental Efficiency Plans, published on 11 June, what were the total administrative costs of the Valuation Office Agency in 2024–25; and what is the breakdown between cash-releasing and non-cash-releasing efficiencies of the projected 5–10 per cent savings from integrating the Valuation Office Agency into HMRC by 2028–29.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Valuation Office Agency’s total administrative costs in 2024-25 were approximately £27m.
The cash releasing and non-cash releasing breakdown (by 28/29) of efficiencies from integration with HMRC is yet to be determined as detailed plans are still being developed.
Asked by: Lord Agnew of Oulton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government, with regard to page 41 of their policy paper Spending Review 2025: Departmental Efficiency Plans, published on 11 June, what was the average cost per case in 2024–25 for (1) ministerial, and (2) public correspondence in the Treasury; and what is the projected average cost per case under the automated correspondence system.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Due to correspondence being just one role officials have, the potential for multiple officials to be involved, and differing complexity per case, we do not currently attribute precise staff time spent per case. Therefore, we are unable to provide an average cost per case for ministerial or public correspondence in 2024–25.
However, as set out in the Departmental Efficiency Plans, the adoption of AI-driven automation is expected to both speed up casework and reduce overall costs. We anticipate efficiency gains relative to current arrangements. Further detail will be available once the automated tools are fully developed and deployed and the impact assessed in terms of central resource and time savings.
Asked by: Lord Agnew of Oulton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of interactions with His Majesty's Revenue and Customs customer service lines were classified as ‘failure demand’ resulting from (1) internal administrative errors, (2) unclear or misleading official guidance, or (3) another form of failure demand, in each of the past four financial years; and in each case, what was the total estimated cost.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC publishes its call waiting times here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmrc-monthly-performance-reports
Last year, HMRC received extra funding to deploy additional customer service advisers. They are also investing in new technology which will significantly enhance the customer experience. Improving day-to-day performance is a key priority for HMRC.
Failure demand encompasses a broad spectrum of issues, including customer, employer and HMRC errors. While HMRC classifies some categories of call as failure demand (for example the customer could theoretically find relevant information via online guidance), these calls are essential in helping customers understand their tax obligations and pay the right amount of tax. Therefore, while HMRC is seeking to reduce failure demand and encourage customers to use online services, they recognise the importance of continuing to support those who call for extra help.
The below table provides the total proportion of calls classified as ‘failure demand’. Failure demand data does not exist for 2021/22 (or earlier).
| 2022-23 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 |
Failure Demand Percentage | 70% | 72% | 76% |
Asked by: Lord Agnew of Oulton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government, based on average hourly earnings, what was the estimated total financial cost incurred by taxpayers because of call waiting times for His Majesty's Revenue and Customs customer helplines in each of the past four financial years.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC publishes its call waiting times here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmrc-monthly-performance-reports
Last year, HMRC received extra funding to deploy additional customer service advisers. They are also investing in new technology which will significantly enhance the customer experience. Improving day-to-day performance is a key priority for HMRC.
Failure demand encompasses a broad spectrum of issues, including customer, employer and HMRC errors. While HMRC classifies some categories of call as failure demand (for example the customer could theoretically find relevant information via online guidance), these calls are essential in helping customers understand their tax obligations and pay the right amount of tax. Therefore, while HMRC is seeking to reduce failure demand and encourage customers to use online services, they recognise the importance of continuing to support those who call for extra help.
The below table provides the total proportion of calls classified as ‘failure demand’. Failure demand data does not exist for 2021/22 (or earlier).
| 2022-23 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 |
Failure Demand Percentage | 70% | 72% | 76% |