Recommendation 24

HMRC told us that from a policy perspective it learns lessons from previous work and creates ‘playbooks’ for future policies. While we are glad to hear that HMRC does this, we expressed concern that it is in a position to offer advice to ministers only on how to implement a scheme similar to Child Trust Funds, rather than on whether the 30 Q 24; C&AG’s Report, para 3.3 31 Q 30; C&AG’s Report, para 4.2 32 Qq 30–33; C&AG’s Report, para 3.5 33 Qq 44, 85; C&AG’s Report, para 10 34 Qq 44, 93; C&AG’s Report, para 4.8 35 Qq 64–65, 86 36 Q 65 Child Trust Funds 15 evidence suggests such a scheme would be an effective use of taxpayers’ money.37 HMRC told us that government has learnt lessons about implementing a universal scheme from the experience of Child Trust Funds, including about the importance of partnerships, and about how to approach groups with very different levels of engagement. However, it provided no detail of how those lessons have been learnt or where that learning has been captured.38