The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) will hold the first of two
evidence sessions examining Government services:
Identifying costs and generating income at 10.00am on
Thursday 16th October.
To recover the cost of providing certain services, such as
administering a driving licences or passports, the Government
charges fees. The guidance set out by HM Treasury states that
these charges should recover the full cost of providing services
in order to avoid cross-subsidies between services or
over-charging users.
However, a recent report by the NAO
found that over the past five years, none of the services
examined had met their cost recovery targets. In 2022-23 this
amounted to a shortfall of £340 million, leaving future users at
risk of having to overpay for services if fees are inflated to
plug the gap.
MPs will question witnesses including the Permanent Secretary at
HM Treasury and the Chief Executive of the DVLA about the key
challenges faced by the Government in achieving value for money
when providing services. The session is also likely to explore
the role of the Treasury in overseeing how fees and charges are
set and managed and ask what practical improvements could be made
to the process.
Witnesses from 3.30pm:
-
CB, Permanent Secretary, HM
Treasury
- Nick Donlevy, Director of Public Spending, HM Treasury
-
, Director in the Strategy,
Planning and Budget Group, HM Treasury
- Tim Moss CBE, Chief Executive, Driver and Vehicle Licensing
Agency
- Farhad Chikhalia, Interim Director, Strategic Finance and
Partnerships, Ministry of Justice
