Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 6
6
Accepted
HMRC is not planning to re-evaluate the scheme or learn lessons from its implementation that...
Conclusion
HMRC is not planning to re-evaluate the scheme or learn lessons from its implementation that could help in the design or improvement of similar schemes. HMRC published an interim evaluation of the scheme in 2011 but has not reassessed the scheme since young adults first started claiming their money from matured accounts, which was in 2020. It claims there is no “particular appetite” for further evaluation. It told us that only ministers can decide if an evaluation of the scheme should be undertaken, with which we disagree. HMRC told us that its involvement in initiating evaluations is centred on advising ministers on the tax system, including areas it believes require further analysis. HMRC told us that from a policy perspective it learns lessons from previous work and creates ‘playbooks’ for 8 Child Trust Funds future policies. However, it is unclear to us how HMRC officials can give ministers comprehensive and up-to-date advice without sufficient evaluation of its schemes. It told us that government has learnt lessons from the experience of introducing Child Trust Funds, including on how to approach groups with very different levels of engagement with a universal scheme, but it has provided no detail of how those lessons have been learnt or where that learning has been captured. The engagement of the Share Foundation to manage Child Trust Funds on behalf of children in care has given a focus to those accounts and should be a lesson for HMRC on how to make its schemes work well for hard-to-reach groups. Recommendation 6: HMRC should, at the appropriate time within the next 24 months, evaluate the scheme to understand what has been achieved from government’s £2 billion investment and what impact it has had on the lives of young people and identify lessons that would benefit similar schemes in the future, particularly around how to design and implement a scheme that works well for vulnerable groups. Child Trust Funds 9 1 Access to Child Trust Funds
Government Response Summary
The government agreed with the recommendation to evaluate the CTF scheme, stating a more detailed plan for evaluation will be formalised in Winter 2023. It also committed to publishing external research programmes and evaluation lists in line with good practice.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. and sets out HMRC’s approach to achieving good quality monitoring and evaluations of its policies in line with government good practice. HMRC has committed to publishing its external research programmes in the HMRC annual report and accounts and has made the same commitment for evaluation. A list and brief description of HMRC’s research reports, and the final research report, is available on GOV.UK. HMRC also publishes a list of HMRC planned evaluation publications. Any evaluation plan, however, needs to be carefully considered and proportionate recognising that resources are limited. The CTF is an intervention that has been discontinued and is not currently part of the policy framework. While there are undoubtedly some lessons that can be learned, any evaluation plan will need to be mindful of this wider context. A more detailed plan for evaluation will be formalised in Winter 2023. In addition, evaluation and similar analysis are not solely the purview of Government. HMRC also seeks to be open and pro-active in the way it manages its relationships with external stakeholders such as academics and external researchers, including those researching CTFs, and permits access to HMRC data via the HMRC Datalab. Treasury Minutes Archive1 Treasury Minutes are the government’s response to reports from the Committee of Public Accounts. Treasury Minutes are Command Papers laid in Parliament. Session 2022-23 Committee Recommendations: 444 Recommendations agreed: 396 (89%) Recommendations disagreed: 48 Publication Date PAC Reports Ref Number July 2022 Government response to PAC reports 1, 3 & 10 CP 722 August 2022 Government response to PAC reports 2, 4-8 CP 708 September 2022 Government response to PAC reports 9, 13-16 CP 745 November 2022 Government response to PAC reports 11, 12, 17 CP 755 December 2022 Government response to PAC reports 18-22 CP 774 January 2023 Government response to PAC reports 23-26 CP 781 February 2023 Government response to PAC reports 27-31 CP 802 March 2023 Government response to PAC reports 32-36 CP 828 May 2023 Government response to PAC reports 37-41 CP 845 June 2023 Government response to PAC reports 42-47 CP 847 July 2023 Government response to PAC reports 48-54 CP 902 August 2023 Government response to PAC reports 55-60 CP 921 September 2023 Government response to PAC reports 62-67 CP 941 Session 2021-22 Committee Recommendations: 362 Recommendations agreed: 333 (92%) Recommendations disagreed: 29 Publication Date PAC Reports Ref Number August 2021 Government response to PAC reports 1-6 CP 510 September 2021 Government response to PAC reports 8-11 CP 520 November 2021 Government response to PAC reports 7,13-16 (and TM2 BBC) CP 550 December 2021 Government response to PAC reports 12, 17-21 CP 583 January 2022 Government response to PAC reports 22-26 CP 603 February 2022 Government response to PAC reports 27-31 CP 631 April 2022 Government response to PAC reports 32-35 CP 649 April 2022 Government response to PAC reports 36-42 CP 667 July 2022 Government response to PAC reports 49-52 CP 722 Session 2019-21 Committee Recommendations: 233 Recommendations agreed: 208 (89%) Recommendations disagreed: 25 Publication Date PAC Reports Ref Number July 2020 Government responses to PAC reports 1-6 CP 270 1 List of Treasury Minutes responses for Sessions 2010-15 are annexed in the government’s response to PAC Report 52 Publication Date PAC Reports Ref Number September 2020 Government responses to PAC reports 7-13 CP 291 November 2020 Government responses to PAC reports 14-17 and 19 CP 316 January 2021 Government responses to PAC reports 18, 20-24 CP 363 February 2021 Government responses to PAC reports 25-29 CP 376 February 2021 Government responses to PAC reports 30-34 CP 389 March 2021 Government responses to PAC reports 35-39 CP 409 April 2021 Government responses to PAC reports 40- 44 CP 420 May 2021 Government responses to PAC reports 45-51 CP 434 June 2021 Government responses to PAC reports 52-56 CP 456 Session 2019 Committee Recommendations: 11 Recommendations agreed: 11 (100%) Recommendations disagreed: 0 Publication Date PAC Reports Ref Number January 2020 Government response to PAC report [112-119] 1 and 2 CP 210 Session 2017-19 Committee Recommendations: 747 Recommendations agreed: 675 (90%) Recommendations disagreed: 72 (10%) Publication Date PAC Reports Ref Number December 2017 Government response to PAC report 1 Cm 9549 January 2018 Government responses to PAC reports 2 and 3 Cm 9565 March 2018 Government responses to PAC reports 4-11 Cm 9575 March 2018 Government responses to PAC reports 12-19 Cm 9596 May 2018 Government responses to PAC reports 20-30 Cm 9618 June 2018 Government responses to PAC reports 31-37 Cm 9643 July 2018 Government responses to PAC reports 38-42 Cm 9667 October 2018 Government responses to PAC reports 43-58 Cm 9702 December 2018 Government responses to PAC reports 59-63 Cm 9740 January 2019 Government