Darling: HMRC merger and job cuts not to blame for data loss
Chancellor says the decision to merge the two tax departments, then make job cuts, did not lead to the loss of 25 million individuals' details
The chancellor has dismissed claims that the merger of the two tax
departments and subsequent job cuts were responsible for the catastrophic loss
of child benefit data.
Accountancy representatives and the national press had
pointed to the government’s
decision to merge the Inland Revenue and HM Customs & Excise,
in tandem with a huge efficiency drive, as a key reason behind the lack of risk
management leading to the loss of CDs containing records of 25 million
individuals.
Many in the profession have
stated that the merger and efficiency drive at the super-department
had stretched it to breaking point.
On the BBC’s Radio Four Today programme, Darling said: ‘It is not the merger,
it is not the reduction in staff that led to the procedures being breached.
Further reading:
View
the Times’ take on the chancellor’s defence of the merger
Hartnett takes top job at
HMRC
HMRC’s data loss: what the papers
say