Thirty-Sixth Report - HMRC performance 2019–20

The government accepts the recommendation, agreeing to write to the Committee by March 2021 to detail its communication approach for support schemes and outline lessons learned from timing and content, aiming to provide as much clarity and forewarning as possible.

The government accepts the recommendation and aims for implementation by July 2021, stating it will review space requirements in light of the pandemic's impact. It asserts that its existing estate strategy already offers value for money with flexible lease terms, and commits to working with the Government Property Agency to make any freed-up space available to other departments.

The government accepted the recommendation, noting £5.4 billion funding from the 2020 Spending Review, and committed to reviewing HMRC's 2021-22 priorities and publishing an Outcome Delivery Plan following the start of the financial year.

The government accepted the recommendation, stating it has been addressing legacy IT since 2019 with £268 million funding and detailed a four-point plan (Rationalise/Streamline, Remediate, Migrate, Transform) to refocus investment on modernisation, with plans detailed in the Outcome Delivery Plan.

The government accepted the recommendation, detailing steps to ensure financial estimates are timely and rigorous, including validation and monthly reporting. For COVID-19 grant schemes, it provided timelines for actual error/fraud estimates and outlined a post-payment compliance approach for recovering losses.

The government states it agrees with the committee's "recommendation" and that it has been implemented, but then refers to a response made to a recommendation from a different committee report regarding eligibility for excluded groups in COVID-19 support schemes, not the introductory conclusion provided.

The government stated they had considered the provision of support for excluded groups and justified why existing rules were set, maintaining that moving away would complicate the scheme, effectively rejecting the creation of new support schemes.

The government response reiterates the primary support measures administered by HMRC, which was introductory context in the committee's conclusion, but does not address the observation about OBR's cost estimates.

The government agreed to the committee's observation and committed to writing to the Committee in March 2021 to detail their approach to evaluating the Eat Out to Help Out scheme and the lessons learned.

The government acknowledges the committee's conclusion regarding the Job Retention Bonus scheme and commits to writing to the committee in March 2021 to provide more detail on its communication approach and lessons learned regarding scheme changes.

The government acknowledges the committee's conclusion (despite referring to it as a recommendation) and reiterates its satisfaction with the value for money of its estates strategy, confirming it will review future space requirements and work with the Government Property Agency to make freed-up space available to other departments.

The government states it is satisfied its current estate strategy offers value for money, citing independent advice and flexible lease terms that allow for subletting. It reiterates its expectation to remain an office-based organisation but will review future space requirements and work with the Government Property Agency to make any freed-up space available to other departments.

The government acknowledges the committee's conclusion regarding new leases, reiterating its satisfaction with its estates strategy, and stating it will review future space requirements while working with the Government Property Agency to manage available space for other departments.

The government acknowledges the committee's conclusion on the flexibility of its regional office deals, defending its estates strategy and stating it will review future space requirements and work with the Government Property Agency to manage available space for other departments.

The government accepts the recommendation to take the impact of the pandemic on the commercial property market into account before taking on any more long-term leases, further stating its estates strategy continues to offer value for money and it will review space requirements.

The government response does not address the committee's conclusion regarding HMRC's recruitment and location policy supporting the 'levelling-up agenda', instead providing unrelated information about professional advice for regional centre leases.

The government acknowledges the committee's conclusion on the impact of COVID-19 on HMRC operations and customer service, outlining significant funding allocated through the 2020 Spending Review for customs, IT, and tax digitalisation, and stating it is reviewing 2021-22 priorities and will publish its Outcome Delivery Plan.

The government's response outlines overall funding allocations for HMRC from the 2020 Spending Review, including for customs, Making Tax Digital, and IT. It states that HMRC is reviewing its 2021-22 priorities and preparing its Outcome Delivery Plan, but does not specifically address the committee's observations regarding the impact of COVID-19 on compliance work or tax receipts.

The government response does not address the committee's conclusion regarding HMRC's significant debt balance or its approach to debt recovery, instead detailing unrelated funding allocations for customs, IT, and tax digitalisation.

The government acknowledges the committee's conclusion on plans to tackle fraud and error in COVID-19 support schemes, confirming that a complete assessment of total fraud and error will be available by the end of 2021 and detailing its post-payment compliance approach for recovering funds from those who abused the schemes.

The government agrees with the committee's observations and states it has been addressing legacy technical debt since 2019, receiving £268 million in 2020 to improve its IT estate. This includes rationalising services, remediating high-priority debt, migrating to the cloud, and transforming systems to reduce operating costs and enhance security.

The government agrees with the committee's observations and states it has been addressing its legacy IT debt since 2019, securing £268 million in 2020 to modernize its IT estate. This involves rationalizing, remediating, migrating systems to the cloud, and transforming its infrastructure to enhance agility, resilience, and security.

The government agrees with the committee's observations, stating it has been implementing its IT modernization plan since 2019 with £268 million funding from the 2020 Spending Review. This plan involves rationalizing services, remediating technical debt, migrating to the cloud, and transforming systems to enhance agility, resilience, and security.

The government confirmed the implementation of additional validation exercises and strengthened sign-off processes to prevent future Net Cash Requirement breaches, and committed to improved controls and monthly forecasting to the Treasury for income control.

The government agrees with the committee's observations and explains it will have complete fraud and error assessments for CJRS by the end of 2021 and for SEISS after 2020-21 Self-Assessment returns are filed. It outlines its existing post-payment compliance approach, which identifies high-risk cases for investigation and recovery.