Given the negative impact of a number of privatisation/contracting-out exercises within Customs & Excise, Inland Revenue and throughout the civil service, we believe that any proposals to further outsource HMRC work would be a mistake. The emphasis should be on utilising and developing in-house skills and solutions.
A particular example, which underlines this point, is the Mapeley STEPS affair, where Revenue and Customs offices were sold three years ago to an offshore company under the Private Finance Initiative (PFI). This sale brought great discredit and controversy on both departments. Payments to Mapeley are now averaging £307 million per year, rather than the anticipated facility price of £170 million. The contract may prove to be significantly more expensive than the rejected alternative of retaining the offices under public ownership. In addition over 40 firms of consultants and advisors have been used on the STEPS deal, at a cost to the taxpayer of £13 million to April 2004.