Called to Account by Margaret Hodge (Little, Brown, £18.99)
I wonder what impact a Margaret Hodge equivalent would make in the US, where the President-Elect believes that not paying tax is a smart thing to do? The Labour MP has come to prominence in recent years as Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, taking to task tax evaders and shoddy public procurement projects.
Hodge was my minister in what was then called the Department for Trade and Industry in the mid-2000s, in charge of the business portfolio. I found that, unlike some of her fellow politicians, she listened to facts. In general, though, she distrusts the civil service, believing it often acts to frustrate politicians’ attempts at radical reform. She is astonished by the fact they get promoted and receive honours even if they do a consistently bad job, and when they leave take top roles in businesses related to their work. She may be right.
But I would say the same for politicians. As is demonstrated in her own critique of Iain Duncan Smith’s push for a universal credit system despite numerous warnings, perhaps civil servants’ objections are often justified. Where she is on firmer ground though is her relentless attack on HMRC’s inability to collect tax from large corporates and individuals, on departmental waste and large public sector pay-offs.
It is true there are few specialist procurement officers in the civil service; that attempts to move to shared services seem to always flounder; and that more care needs to be taken with “other people’s money”—in other words, ours. Hodge has done a great service by exposing these failings. But the needed cultural and behavioural change will be tough to bring about.
I wonder what impact a Margaret Hodge equivalent would make in the US, where the President-Elect believes that not paying tax is a smart thing to do? The Labour MP has come to prominence in recent years as Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, taking to task tax evaders and shoddy public procurement projects.
Hodge was my minister in what was then called the Department for Trade and Industry in the mid-2000s, in charge of the business portfolio. I found that, unlike some of her fellow politicians, she listened to facts. In general, though, she distrusts the civil service, believing it often acts to frustrate politicians’ attempts at radical reform. She is astonished by the fact they get promoted and receive honours even if they do a consistently bad job, and when they leave take top roles in businesses related to their work. She may be right.
But I would say the same for politicians. As is demonstrated in her own critique of Iain Duncan Smith’s push for a universal credit system despite numerous warnings, perhaps civil servants’ objections are often justified. Where she is on firmer ground though is her relentless attack on HMRC’s inability to collect tax from large corporates and individuals, on departmental waste and large public sector pay-offs.
It is true there are few specialist procurement officers in the civil service; that attempts to move to shared services seem to always flounder; and that more care needs to be taken with “other people’s money”—in other words, ours. Hodge has done a great service by exposing these failings. But the needed cultural and behavioural change will be tough to bring about.
