The House of Commons Public Accounts Committee will
publish a report this Thursday (8 September) on the results of its
investigation into the accidental deletion of taxpayers' records as
part of routine database administration.
The investigation came after Computer Weekly last November
highlighted a single paragraph deep in a 41-page report by public
spending watchdog the National Audit Office on the accounts of the
Inland Revenue, now HM Revenue and Customs.
The paragraph said the department became aware in the autumn of
2003 that, "A well established and accepted housekeeping routine on
the PAYE computer databases had for a number of years deleted some
records before the usual final review to check whether any tax
remains overpaid or underpaid for the relevant year."
The deletions highlight flaws in the Revenue's procedures,
controls and data security policies which should have prevented
core data being removed permanently.
Next week's report will also examine the troubled introduction
of tax credits.
Richard Bacon, a member of the Public Accounts Committee, said
MPs continue to be inundated with complaints from constituents
arising from the troubled introduction of the tax credits
system.