David Varney has cut an impressive figure since his
appointment last year as chairman of HM Revenue and Customs. He
gives the impression of leading a new board that wants to sweep
away the dusty and unco-ordinated business practices, ancient IT
systems and a defensive, reactionary culture.
But last week Varney's words were out of character: they had the
electronic tinniness of a greetings card that repeats the same
message every time it is opened. The House of Commons Public
Accounts Committee had produced an impressive report, which
highlighted structural flaws in the administration of the nation's
tax affairs.
MPs were not trying to score party points - Labour members are
in the majority. They were fed up with complaints from their
constituents about the design of the tax credits system.
To the committee's thoughtful recommendations Varney could have
said that the department wants to learn the lessons from past
mistakes and will consider the committee's well-intentioned
suggestions for improvement.
Instead, he gave the impression that his department is
approaching perfection and there is little his board and staff can
learn from a committee of MPs.
The only mistakes HMRC is willing to admit to are those of its
former supplier EDS. The company must take some of the blame,
particularly for the errors in the first weeks of the operation of
the tax credits system. But the department's problems run far
deeper.
IT staff have worked night and day to build workaday and
successful systems at the Revenue. They should not be blamed for
the failures in administration, management of projects, advice to
ministers, and for the design of overly complex systems such as tax
credits.
It has happened many times before: a department says one thing
and an independent committee of MPs says another. The conflict
cannot be resolved without the full facts, which ministers and
departmental heads control and release selectively.
This is one of the reasons Computer Weekly campaigns for the
facts to be published in the form of the regular appraisals of
projects carried out by the Office of Government Commerce's teams
of Gateway reviewers.
Computer Weekly also recommends that Varney recaptures the
objectivity he had as an outsider. If he accepts the role of star
performer in the Revenue's outward display of solidity, his
organisation is more likely to be seen as a department in denial
than an efficient and critical public service.