h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7103566.stm

As a recipient of Child Benefit for the wee one, I'm totally speechless. That doesn't happen often.

There was something on Watchdog the other night about the Inland Revenue doing this. I wonder who is going to be prosecuted for breaking the data protection act. The courier? The person who gave it to the courier?

I hate having to keep writing my bank details on forms, but having no choice it's a risk I've taken since J was born, and with his new diagnosis it's likely I'll have to continue forever.

It's making me think that I will get a new bank account, and once money has gone into this one I'll transfer it straight into a different one. Not that I get much money, but of course I can't afford to lose any of it!

If anyone gets prosecuted it should be Gordon Brown: he's the chap that decided to inflict untenable budgetary constraints on HMRC.

I just saw a reference to "Discgate". In the Guardian. Oh dear.

Unfortunately it's the person who 'did the deed' that gets prosecuted.

It's totally and completely the responsibility of the Civil Service who, ironically, are often neither civil nor servile.

This idea that ministers and politicians should be blamed for things which they would have neither knowledge nor control of is something thing which is both illogical and counter productive.

The fact that civil servants were not held accountable for their actions meant that they had very little in the way of incentive not to make god almighty cock ups such as weve seen in the Home Office and now HMRC.

Looks like someone's going to be hauled over the coals: http://politics.guardian.co.uk/economics/story/0,,2214760,00.html

BTW, some of us are both civil and servile, given the chance!

>> The HMRC official said that the "the inquiry will take into account the individual's experience. However, in the staff handbook there are guidelines and they include using common sense".

The official described the situation as being like "going to a bank clerk to ask for a £15m loan when I should really be dealing with the manager". <<



And when did the HMRC official last go into a bank and ask for a loan? About the 1970s by the sound of it.

This does illustrate the problem to a large degree. Civil servants get sucked into their own world view and have no concept of what goes on outside of the civil service.

The HMRC chief who resigned over this is still on full pay and full pension, according to the Evening Standard. How is this possible? How can you resign, and continue to be paid? Cos I want some of dem apples!

RF

You should look up the debacle of the now ex chief exec of East Lothian Council. Now that makes interesting reading!

I went to the HMRC website and read their sorry excuse of an apology. I feel sorry for the junior who did the deed with posting those CDs though - he should never have been given that responsibility and giving them the sack is just making them a scapegoat, taking the heat off the powers that be.

Well I've written to the one you didn't vote for, who beat the one you did , to ask him just how we can expect this government to protect any of our data. He also knows I've worked in a civil service role so his response could be quite interesting.

...if it doesn't go missing in the post.

I'm just impressed that they used TNT instead of Royal Mail. I kind of assumed that that was because Deutche Post are normally a lot more efficient and a lot less likely to lose your post.