Hc 706 Housing Benefit Fraud
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Hc 706 Housing Benefit Fraud
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Author : Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts
language : en
Publisher: The Stationery Office
Release Date : 2015
Hc 706 Housing Benefit Fraud written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts and has been published by The Stationery Office this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2015 with Political Science categories.
The Department must do more to get to grips with tackling Housing Benefit fraud and error. In 2013-14 overpayments were £1.4 billion and underpayments were £0.4 billion. In 2013-14 overpayments increased to 5.8% of Housing Benefit spending, the highest rate of the Department's benefits, and represented 42% of total overpayments across all benefits. Even after recoveries by local authorities, this is a huge cost to taxpayers. Underpayments also create difficulties for claimants who miss out on payments. The Department has made little progress in reducing fraud and error despite repeated calls by this Committee over the last 16 years for the Department to improve its management of the problem. It has now begun to use HM Revenue & Customs' real time information on earnings which should help it address the largest area of overpayments when the Department eventually rolls out Universal Credit but the timeframe for that remains uncertain. The Department needs to take action now to strengthen incentives for local authorities to tackle claimant error and fraud, develop a clearer understanding of fraud and error at the local level and target major areas of loss.
Hc 1141 The Work Of The Committee Of Public Accounts 2010 15
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Author : Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts
language : en
Publisher: The Stationery Office
Release Date : 2015
Hc 1141 The Work Of The Committee Of Public Accounts 2010 15 written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts and has been published by The Stationery Office this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2015 with Political Science categories.
This report summarises the key areas of the Committee's work over the past five years. It draws out the areas where progress has been made and where their successors might wish to press in future. The Committee has assiduously followed the taxpayer's pound wherever it was spent. Since 2010 they held 276 evidence sessions and published 244 unanimous reports to hold government to account for its performance. 88% of their recommendations were accepted by departments. In many cases they successfully secured substantial changes, for example with the once secret tax avoidance industry. They secured consensus from government and from industry that private providers of public services do have a duty of care to the taxpayer, and in pushing the protection of whistleblowers further up the agenda of all government departments. By drawing attention to mistakes in the Department for Transport's procurement of the West Coast Mainline, more recent procurements for Crossrail, Thameslink and Intercity Express have all benefited from more expert advice and a more appropriate level of challenge from senior staff. After discovery in 2012-13 that 63% of calls to government call centres were to higher rate telephone numbers, the Government accepted our recommendation that telephone lines serving vulnerable and low income groups never be charged above the geographic rate and that 03 numbers should be available for all government telephone lines. They also secured a commitment to close large mental health hospitals.
Hc 892 The Effective Management Of Tax Reliefs
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Author : Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts
language : en
Publisher: The Stationery Office
Release Date : 2015
Hc 892 The Effective Management Of Tax Reliefs written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts and has been published by The Stationery Office this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2015 with Business & Economics categories.
Tax and tax reliefs are plainly different and require different accountability arrangements. Put simply tax is where you get money in through taxation and a tax relief is where you make a conscious decision to forgo that income. Some reliefs are structural parts of the system to ensure a more progressive system or avoid double taxation. But other reliefs, costing some £100 billion a year, are designed to deliver a policy objective that could be met instead through spending programmes. HM Treasury and HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) do not keep track of those tax reliefs intended to influence behaviour. They do not adequately report to Parliament or the public on whether reliefs are working as intended and what they cost and whether they represent good value for money. While HMRC is accountable for implementing and monitoring all tax reliefs, its statements about the extent of its responsibilities are inconsistent with its actual practices. HMRC accepts it has a role to assess, evaluate and monitor reliefs, but is unable or unwilling to define or to categorise reliefs by their purpose. While HMRC accepts the need for reporting the costs of tax reliefs, it does not see the merit in assessing the economy, efficiency and effectiveness of reliefs, or considering their cost effectiveness alongside that of alternative policy instruments such as spending programmes. HMRC does not generally assess the effectiveness of reliefs with specific objectives although in a few instances it does consider their impact on taxpayer behaviour. HMRC's failure to articulate a set of principles to guide its management and reporting of tax reliefs is a serious omission which it now needs to rectify.
Hc 860 Tax Avoidance The Role Of Large Accountancy Firms Follow Up
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Author : Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts
language : en
Publisher: The Stationery Office
Release Date : 2015
Hc 860 Tax Avoidance The Role Of Large Accountancy Firms Follow Up written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts and has been published by The Stationery Office this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2015 with Business & Economics categories.
The tax arrangements PwC promoted in Luxembourg bear all the characteristics of a mass-marketed tax avoidance scheme according to the Public Accounts Committee. Large accountancy firms advise multinational companies on complex strategies and contrived structures which do not reflect the substance of their businesses and are instead designed to avoid tax. In light of the publication of leaked documents detailing some of the tax advice it has given to its multinational clients, the Committee took evidence from PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC). PwC did not convince the Committee that its widespread promotion of schemes to numerous clients, based on artificially diverting profits to Luxembourg through intra-company loans, constituted anything other than the promotion of tax avoidance on an industrial scale. The fact that PwC's promotion of these schemes is permitted by its own code of conduct is clear evidence that Government needs to take a more active role in regulating the tax industry, as it evidently cannot be trusted to regulate itself. HMRC should set out how it plans to take a more active role in challenging the advice being given by accountancy firms to their multinational clients. In contributing to the OECD's discussions aimed at reforming international tax law, HMRC should push for a more rigorous and meaningful definition of what "substance" means in respect of business, particularly if multinational companies conduct any business in the countries where they shift profits to in order to avoid tax. The Committee believes strongly that the Government must act by introducing a code of conduct for all tax advisers.
Hc 973 Care Services For People With Learning Disabilities And Challenging Behaviour
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Author : Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts
language : en
Publisher: The Stationery Office
Release Date : 2015
Hc 973 Care Services For People With Learning Disabilities And Challenging Behaviour written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts and has been published by The Stationery Office this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2015 with Psychology categories.
The Winterbourne View scandal in 2011 exposed the horrific abuse of people with learning difficulties and challenging behaviour in a private mental health hospital. Concerns were also raised about a number of other institutions. As a result, the Government committed to discharging those individuals for whom it was appropriate back into their homes and communities. However, since then, too many children and adults have continued to go into mental health hospitals, and to stay there unnecessarily, because of the lack of community alternatives. The number of people with learning disabilities remaining in hospital has not fallen, and has remained broadly the same at around 3,200. It was refreshing that NHS England took responsibility for this lack of progress and has now committed to develop a closure programme for large NHS mental health hospitals, along with a transition plan for the people with learning disabilities within these hospitals, from 2016-17. Discharges from hospital are being delayed because funding does not follow the individual when they are discharged into the community. This acts as a financial disincentive for local commissioners who have to bear the costs and responsibility for planning and commissioning community services. Delaying discharge has the effect of institutionalising people, making their reintegration into the community more difficult. Some local authorities' reluctance to accept and fund individuals in the community will be exacerbated by current financial constraints. The Department should set out its proposals for 'dowry-type' payments from NHS England to meet the costs of supporting people discharged from hospital.
Hc 809 Children In Care
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Author : Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts
language : en
Publisher: The Stationery Office
Release Date : 2015
Hc 809 Children In Care written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts and has been published by The Stationery Office this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2015 with Political Science categories.
The Department for Education should set out how it will lead and work with others to improve the outcomes for children by improving the quality of care according to the Committee's report. The Department for Education holds policy responsibility for children in care, and has national oversight of the local authorities who provide the services for these children. Although the Department is clearly best placed to provide the leadership required in many cases, it shows an alarming reluctance to play an active role in securing better services and outcomes for children in care. It chooses to limit its role to passing legislation, publishing guidance and intervening after Ofsted has failed a local authority service. It does far too little to disseminate actively what works and to support authorities to improve before they are failed by Ofsted. It sits on a wealth of information and knowledge which it fails to use in an active way to support better outcomes for this most vulnerable group of children. While 62% of children in care have suffered abuse and neglect, too many still do not get the right placement first time, too many are moved too often, and too few are placed close to their homes.
Hc 893 Public Health England S Grant To Local Authorities
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Author : Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts
language : en
Publisher: The Stationery Office
Release Date : 2015
Hc 893 Public Health England S Grant To Local Authorities written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts and has been published by The Stationery Office this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2015 with Medical categories.
Since it was created in 2013, Public Health England (PHE) has made a good start in its efforts to protect and improve public health. Good public health is vital to tackling health inequalities and reducing burdens on the NHS. The Committee were impressed by the passion shown by PHE's Chief Executive, and his determination to challenge Government to consider public health in wider policymaking. However, we are concerned that the Department of Health is not getting local authorities to their target funding allocations for public health quickly enough, with nearly one third of 152 local authorities currently receiving funding that is more than 20% above or below what would be their fair share. The Agency decided not to change the grant distribution for 2015/16. Local authorities are also presently constrained by being tied into contracts to which the Department had previously committed, such as for sexual health interventions. It is not clear whether the public health grant to local authorities will remain ring-fenced, and they need more certainty to better plan their public health programmes. If the ring-fence is removed, there is a risk that spending on public health will decline as councils come under increasing financial pressures. There are still unacceptable health inequalities across the country, for example healthy life expectancy for men ranges from 52.5 years to 70 years depending on where they live. These inequalities make PHE's support at a local level particularly important but the Committee are concerned that PHE does not have strong enough ways of influencing local authorities to ensure progress against all of its top public health priorities. Finally, given how important it is to tackle the many wider causes of poor public health, PHE needs to influence departments more effectively and translate its own passion into action across Whitehall.
Hc 736 Financial Sustainability Of Nhs Bodies
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Author : Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts
language : en
Publisher: The Stationery Office
Release Date : 2015
Hc 736 Financial Sustainability Of Nhs Bodies written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts and has been published by The Stationery Office this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2015 with Business & Economics categories.
The financial health of NHS bodies has worsened in the last two financial years. The overall net surplus achieved by NHS bodies in 2012-13 of £2.1 billion fell to £722 million in 2013-14. The percentage of NHS trusts and foundation trusts in deficit increased from 10% in 2012-13 to 26% in 2013-14. Monitor found that 80% of foundation trusts that provide acute hospital services were reporting a deficit by the second quarter of 2014-15. NHS England, Monitor and the NHS Trust Development Authority recognise that radical change is needed to the way services are provided and that extra resources are required if the NHS is to become financially sustainable. The necessary changes will require further upfront investment. Present incentives to reduce A&E attendance and increase community based care services have not had the impact expected. New incentives and strong relationships are needed to promote the more effective collaboration necessary for delivering new models of care.
Hc 737 Strategic Flood Risk Management
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Author : Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts
language : en
Publisher: The Stationery Office
Release Date : 2015
Hc 737 Strategic Flood Risk Management written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts and has been published by The Stationery Office this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2015 with Law categories.
Given financial constraints, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Environment Agency have done a good job in improving the cost effectiveness of their approach to flood risk management. They have adopted rational methods to prioritise spending on both new capital flood defences and maintaining existing ones. However, risks remain to the sustainability of current levels of flood protection. The Agency will need to make difficult decisions about how it prioritises its maintenance budget, including some defences where it will need to reduce or stop maintenance. In these cases, there is a risk that lack of maintenance will mean that capital costs are incurred sooner, when defences require replacement earlier. Since our evidence session, the Agency has published a long term investment strategy, which presents a number of flooding scenarios and outlines how much funding would be needed to protect against these.
Hc 808 Implementing Reforms To Civil Legal Aid
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Author : Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts
language : en
Publisher: The Stationery Office
Release Date : 2015
Hc 808 Implementing Reforms To Civil Legal Aid written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts and has been published by The Stationery Office this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2015 with Law categories.
The Ministry of Justice is on track to make a significant and rapid reduction to the amount that it spends on civil legal aid. However, it introduced major changes on the basis of no evidence in many areas, and without making good use of the evidence that it did have in other areas. It has been slow to fill the considerable gaps in its understanding, and has not properly assessed the full impact of the reforms. Almost two years after the reforms, the Ministry is still playing catch up: it does not know if those still eligible are able to access legal aid; and it does not understand the link between the price it pays for legal aid and the quality of advice being given. Moreover, the Ministry's approach to implementing the reforms has inhibited access to mediation for family law cases which can be a cost-effective alternative to court for resolving disputes. Amazingly, it failed to foresee that removing legal aid funding for solicitors would reduce the number of referrals to family mediation. Perhaps most worryingly of all, it does not understand, and has shown little interest in, the knock-on costs of its reforms across the public sector. It therefore does not know whether the projected £300 million spending reduction in its own budget is outweighed by additional costs elsewhere. The Department therefore does not know whether the savings in the civil legal aid budget represent value for money