Discs loss 'entirely avoidable'
The loss of discs containing personal details of 25 million people was "entirely avoidable", a report says. The Poynter report does not blame individual officials, but highlights "serious institutional deficiencies" at HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). <snip> The Tories said the report and another by the Independent Police Complaints Commission were "truly devastating". Shadow Chancellor George Osborne said they highlighted "incompetence and systemic failure at the heart of this government". They were "a guide to how not to govern this country", he added. <snip> Lib Dem Treasury spokesman Vince Cable said this meant Mr Brown had been to blame. "The responsibility does indeed lie with the present prime minister, for a specific decision which he made, which is the decision to remove 24,000 of the Inland Revenue staff. "The consequence of which is that the Inland Revenue is now hopelessly ill-equipped to handle to growing complexity of the tax system and tax credits." <snip> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7472814.stm
The loss of discs containing personal details of 25 million people was "entirely avoidable", a report says. The Poynter report does not blame individual officials, but highlights "serious institutional deficiencies" at HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). <snip> The Tories said the report and another by the Independent Police Complaints Commission were "truly devastating". Shadow Chancellor George Osborne said they highlighted "incompetence and systemic failure at the heart of this government". They were "a guide to how not to govern this country", he added. <snip> Lib Dem Treasury spokesman Vince Cable said this meant Mr Brown had been to blame. "The responsibility does indeed lie with the present prime minister, for a specific decision which he made, which is the decision to remove 24,000 of the Inland Revenue staff. "The consequence of which is that the Inland Revenue is now hopelessly ill-equipped to handle to growing complexity of the tax system and tax credits." <snip> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7472814.stm