Now here's an interesting thing, last year's public drubbing of "Jack" Hartnett and HMRC's General Council Anthony Inglese (who was forced to take an oath) by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) over HMRC's handling of the Vampire Squid and Vodafone has not gone down well with the civil service.
As I noted in December last year:
"When it comes to self loathing, no one and nothing does it better than politicians and the State; especially when they viciously turn on one of their own departments.
Therefore it should come as no surprise whatever to read the "public damnation" of HMRC by the Public Accounts Committee ."
Anyhoo, senior mandarins are less than gemused and have, according to Exaro, "declared war" on MPs over the constitutional implications of civil servants being treated in this manner.
Such is the anger felt by the mandarins that GOD himself (the recently retired Gus O'Donnell) wrote to Margaret Hodge (Chairman of PAC), at the end of last year before he was elevated to the Lords, to tell her that civil servants should not be accountable to Parliament and are only accountable to ministers.
In the letter to Hodge GOD accused PAC of using the hearings as a “theatrical exercise in public humiliation”, adding “praise certainly can be a more effective tool for change than blame.”
Hodge is making a speech this Thursday in which she is expected to reveal the contents of a dossier of anonymous, highly critical comments from civil servants and government lawyers who object to PAC's conduct.
At the very centre of the storm is the treatment of HMRC's Hartnett and Inglese.
Hodge is quoted:
"I would agree that Whitehall seems to have declared war on Parliament.”
Aside from Thursday's speech by Hodge, which will stir things up, PAC is adding further fuel to the fire with its ongoing examination of contracts that allow senior civil servants to avoid tax.
This "war" between mandarins and Parliament will of course do nothing to help HMRC improve its service or internal moral; as its failings/improvements will be used as a political football by both sides.
Tax does have to be taxing.
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I REMEMBER WATCHING THE VIDEO OF THE HEARING INVOLVING FATHER JACK AND HIS TOLERANCE OF DEALS FOR THE MEGA RICH. WHEN GOD ARRIVED SOMETIME LATER HE REMINDED ME OF A WELL SPOKEN DEL BOY. REMEMBER THIS IS THE SAME GUY WHO RETIRED AT THE END OF 2011 BEFORE ANY CHANGES TO PUBLIC SERVANTS PENSION ARRANGEMENTS. HE IS 58 AND I BELIEVE ON A PENSION OF £140,000PA. SEEMS FAIR AS MINE WILL BE £2400 PA AFTER 10 YEARS SERVICE.THIS IN FIGHTING WILL HAVE ONE RESULT AND THAT IS THE PEOPLE LIKE ME AT THE BOTTOM OF THE FOOD CHAIN WILL CONTINUE TO BE MICRO MANAGED
ReplyDeleteTHE VAST MAJORITY OF PEOPLE IN CALL CENTRES WOULD LIKE TO GIVE A BETTER SERVICE TO TAX PAYERS AND PROFESSIONALS BUT ARE DISCOURAGED FROM THIS BY THE WAY STATS ARE CONSTANTLY USED TO GRIND US DOWN. OUR MANAGERS VERY SELDOM TALK ABOUT TAX ISSUES JUST STATS AND ATTENDANCE MANAGEMENT. THE LATEST GEM IS THIS. IF A CALLER NEEDS TO BE PASSED TO ANOTHER CALL CENTRE WE ALWAYS TRANSFERRED THEM TO AVOID REJOINING A LONG QUEUE. WE ARE NOT ALLOWED TO DO THAT AS IT IS QUICKER IN THEIR DISEASED MINDS TO GIVE OUT THE TELEPHONE NUMBER. MOST ADVISERS DO IT ANYWAY BEHIND THEIR BACKS.
As the new CEO might exclaim, Doh!!!
ReplyDeleteSorry, wrong Homer, the HMRC version is even more incompetent that the cartoon version.
I would imagine that the moral at HMRC would be greatly boosted by seeing the likes of Hartnett and co made to pay for their arrogant, self-interested and probably illegal behaviour. This behaviour manifest not only in their treatment of the likes of Vodaphone but also their treatment of the poor people who work for them. Gus O'Donnell speaks only for himself and those at the top of the tree - and then only to appease the political powers that be. He has to be the worst person ever to occupy that post.
ReplyDeleteThe insolent arrogance of senior civil service scum is mind-boggling. I would have sent O'donells letter back with a note informing him that his pension has been confiscated. There are 232,000 senior civil service scumbags and they are the source of even more trouble than the political shite. The polits are thick as pigshit and most of the evil ideas they peddle have been dreamed up by evil SCS vermin. They should all be sacked without compensation and their pensions confiscated. That would knock a HUGE chunk off the public sector pension bill.
ReplyDeleteDo you move your lips when you read ? Can you read ?
Delete232,000 in the SCS? Back to Jezza Kyle, I think.............
Der didums, did poor mr gus odonnell and the nice mr jack hartnet get told off by the horrible little lady from PAC, there, there, never mind poor mr...
ReplyDeletefor fcuk sake grow up and get a life; and these people are/were senior civil servants... unbelievable!
the sad bastards
hopefully, in time they will be made fully accountable in the public domain
(if HMRC compensation payments and the cost of their incompetennce was coming directly out of their pockets, you know like business and people who work for a living, they wouldn't be wasting their time throwing their toys out of tgheir pram, time this was sorted out once and for all – I volunteer)
The wheels are coming off someone's trolley but it's difficult to tell whose.
ReplyDelete@anon08.10
ReplyDeleteYou are deranged. There are less than 4,000 people in the Senior Civil Service although I accept that many of them will be scumbags.
The point about HMRC is that it's a non-ministerial department and therefore is not accountable to any individual minister. It should therefore be accountable to Parliament.
Sometimes I wish we could roll the clock back to the 16th century when senior Crown servants who got too big for their boots were dragged before the House of Commons, tried under Bills of Attainder and had their heads chopped off. I vote O'Donnell and Harnett first up for the block.
ReplyDeleteSorry to go of a tangent...anyone notice that MP's agreed without a vote to restrict Westminsters sleaze watchdog from investigating their private lives (where most abuses occur i reckon) saying that such investigations could breach their human rights!!!! Wasnt it just such an investigation that implicated so many of them in the expenses scandal. They really are on a different planet from the rest of us.
ReplyDelete