1 INTRODUCTION
The Sub-Committee's scrutiny programme
1. The Treasury Sub-Committee undertakes a regular
programme of scrutiny of the administration and expenditure of
the Chancellor's departments. In addition to annual hearings with
HM Treasury and HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), the Sub-Committee
takes evidence each year from a rotating selection of bodies which
fall under the Chancellor's remit. Table 1 summarises the hearings
that the Sub-Committee has held in recent Parliamentary sessions.
Table 1: Sub-Committee scrutiny sessions,
2001-02 to 2008-09
| Department or body
| 2001-02
Report
| 2002-
03
Report
| 2003-04
Report
| 2004-05
Report
| 2005-06
Report
| 2006-07
Report
| 2007-08 Report
| 2008-
09
Report
|
| Adjudicator's Office[1]
|
| Oct 03
|
|
|
| Nov 07
|
|
|
| Debt Management Office |
| Jun 03
|
|
| Jan 07
|
| Oct 08
| Oct 09
|
| Government Actuary's Dept
| Jul 02
|
|
|
| Nov 06
|
| Oct 08
|
|
HM Revenue & Customs:
Inland Revenue
Customs & Excise
| Jun 02
Jun 02
| Jun 03
Jun 03
| Jun 04
Jul 04
| Oct 05
| Nov 06
| Dec 07
| Oct 08
| Oct 09
|
| HM Treasury |
| Sep 03
| Feb 05†
| Nov 05
| Oct 06
| Nov 07
| Oct 08
| Nov 09 &
Dec 09
|
| National Savings & Investments
| Jan 03
|
|
| Oct 05
| Feb 07
|
|
| Oct 09
|
| Office for National Statistics
| Oct 02
| Oct 03
| Oct 04
| Nov 05
| # |
|
| N/A** |
| Office of Government Commerce
|
| Jan 04
| Apr 04*
|
| May 06
| Oct 07
|
|
|
| Royal Mint | Nov 02
| Nov 03
|
|
| Nov 06
| Oct 07
|
| Oct 09
|
| Statistics Commission |
Oct 02 |
May 03
Sep 03
| Sep 04
| Nov 05
| # |
|
| N/A** |
| Valuation Office Agency
|
|
|
| Oct 05†
| Jan 07
|
| Oct 08
|
|
Notes: * denotes an appointment hearing for new Chairman/Director/Chief
Executive; † denotes a part of a wider meeting; # denotes
scrutiny of 2005-06 annual reports not undertaken due to inquiry
into Independence for statistics published July 2006. ** Since
2008, the Office for National Statistics has become the executive
office of the UK Statistics Authority, falling within the remit
of the Public Administration Select Committee. The Statistics
Commission closed on 31 March 08.
2. Last session, the Sub-Committee continued this scrutiny cycle,
looking at Departmental Annual Reports for 2008-09. The Sub-Committee
always examines HM Treasury and HMRC. In addition, the Sub-Committee
chose to concentrate on the Debt Management Office (DMO), National
Savings and Investments (NS&I), and the Royal Mint. As part
of the work leading to this Report, the Sub-Committee took oral
evidence from officials from each of these bodies. The Sub-Committee
also obtained written evidence on progress against a number of
significant current issues from the Government Actuary's Department
(GAD), Office of Government Commerce (OGC) and the Valuation Office
Agency (VOA), though they are not the primary focus of this report.
Key outcomes of this correspondence are covered in section 7.
For the first time, the Sub Committee also wrote to the Crown
Estate Commissioners as, under the Crown Estate Act 1961, they
also report to the Chancellor. Their management of the Crown Estate
is now the subject of a separate Sub-Committee inquiry, and accordingly
their performance is not assessed in this report. The Sub-Committee
concluded its 2008-09 Departmental scrutiny by taking evidence
from the Financial Secretary, the Rt Hon Stephen Timms MP, and
the Exchequer Secretary, Sarah McCarthy-Fry MP. We are grateful
to all those who assisted the Sub-Committee in the course of its
inquiry.
Relevant documents
3. Scrutiny has been based largely on the published Reports and
Accounts of the Treasury, HMRC and other bodies subject to examination.[2]
1
The Adjudicator's Office handles complaints about HMRC Back
2
HM Treasury, Annual Report and Accounts 2008-09, July
2009, HC 611; HM Revenue and Customs, Departmental Report 2009,
July 2009, CM 7591; HM Revenue and Customs, 2008-09
Accounts, July 2009, HC 464; Debt Management Office, Annual
Report and Accounts 2008-09, July 2009, HC 853; National
Savings and Investments, Annual Report and Accounts 2008-09,
July 2009, HC 470; The Royal Mint, Annual Report and Accounts
2008-09,June 2009, HC 570 Back
|
