Government Efficiency

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath Excerpts

Thursday 7th October 2010 Lords Chamber

Asked By

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether Sir Philip Green’s review of government efficiency will include HM Revenue and Customs.

[Lord Taylor of Holbeach]

My Lords, Sir Philip Green has been appointed by the Prime Minister to lead an external efficiency review into government spending across all central government departments. Sir Philip will report before the end of the spending review to the Minister for the Cabinet Office, Francis Maude, and the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander.

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath]

My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister. Conservative Ministers have been very loud in their condemnation of benefit cheats but rather quieter about tax avoidance and tax evasion. Does the Minister really think that Sir Philip Green is the right man to study the efficiency of HMRC? Will he assure me that if there are to be cuts in HMRC’s expenditure, they will not impact on that department’s tax evasion and tax avoidance machinery?

[Lord Taylor of Holbeach]

My Lords, Philip Green was appointed by the Prime Minister on 13 August to review spending inefficiencies across all departments, not specifically HMRC, but of course HMRC is included in the sort of areas of government that he might be looking at. There is no question of Sir Philip Green having access to personal tax information or data. The view of the Government is that he is the right man for the job.