On 25 November, 2016, the project was rated "Green", meaning it was "successful" and "on time". But by 31 January, it was rated "Amber/red", meaning it faces "major risks" and "urgent action".
Could that have anything to do with the IR35 changes?
Confidence in HMRC's £70m Customs Declaration Service, a computer system that HMRC itself describes as "business critical", has collapsed, the Treasury Select Committee warned today. The system is intended to replace the 25-year-old current system – known as Customs Handling of Import and Export Freight (Chief). But in the …
Yep and it couldn't happen to a nicer department (not) first.
They could recind their IR35 crackdown if the cost of the failed system in customs revenue exceeds what they might most optimistly hope to rake in from contractors but they won't. A decision like that requires at least two working brain cells all of which HMRC seem to have flushed down the lavvy.
Do we feel sorry for them (HMRC)?
Like hell we do.
The CDS is needed in order to handle a possible five-fold increase in declarations that could occur when the UK leaves the EU.
I'd like to assume that this has been included in the requirements, either as a requirement for the appropriate capacity, or as a requirement for scalability up to that capacity. But I'm not optimistic.
And, of course, if the requirements were specified before the Brexit vote, then there is going to be the mother of all change requests....
which will cost at least twice the original budget and take 3-5 years to implement in India.
Twice the price for 5x capacity scaling? Are you drunk? The only possible way the increase could be low-balled like that would be if the contractor thinks that that will push the date (at which the government realises that it is cheaper to write off the entire project than to continue) far enough out that they will be able to invoice more in total
"75% of the population outside Islington would agree with you."
Possibly. Slight problem - it's the folk in Islington, etc. who pay the taxes which support the rest of the country. (Note for non-UK readers: in the UK most of the income tax comes from a relatively small group of higher earners. Folk in London pay about twice as much income tax per capita as the national average.) So if you hurt the economy of Islington that's going to significantly reduce tax revenues, i.e. less money for the NHS, economically weaker areas, social care, etc. Not sure that "taking back control" was about that.
Almost beer o'clock - have a good weekend.
"75% of the population outside Islington would agree with you."
There was an article in our local paper a few weeks ago suggesting that about 10% of voters (Leave voters was sort of implied) had changed their minds. Given that there's been so much more discussion in the media since the referendum as to what the outcome might be I suspect that if you ran it again there'd be a Remain majority even outside Islington.
Of course Islington, just to be contrary, might vole Leave.
Oh i think it would go the complete opposite way to how you imagine. I personally believe if the referendum was re-run more people would vote leave than previously.
The reason i think this is because every single prediction that 'Project Fear' predicted has proved to be hopelessly incorrect. In fact the opposite has happened. Everything is looking very rosy indeed at the moment for the UK economy, not so good for the EU economy.
However, the echo chamber of the Register would agree with you. Most commentards on here think Brexit is a very bad thing. Do you ALL live in London (the only place in England that is pro-EU)?
>The CDS is needed in order to handle a possible five-fold increase in declarations that could occur when the UK leaves the EU.
Or you could, you know, not bother with recording the transactions, just as we do at the moment, at least, if it will cause the system to fail.
I'd like to think someone didn't design a system that was only vertically scalable. I see duties as a reconciliation system, nowhere near as difficult as a telco payg system. Record the transaction locally, update the central system. I'll bet they didn't do that. It seems no-one can resist doing a single database updated by everyone in real-time these days.
So the GBP 70m project is in difficulty. I wonder how much of the GPB 140m they are going to gain from IR35 is going to get blown on trying to fix the damage the measure causes?
"Well they won't have to worry about Gibraltar travellers. We're about to lose it to Spain."
Time to revive an old idea of mine from pre-EEC membership days: until Spain stops claiming it, all tourist flights from UK to Spain are banned; you can fly to Gib because it's a British overseas territory and take surface transport to Spanish reports.
Could you not go via New York, Paramaribo and then Dakar for fun - and then sneak into Gib under the radar from the South? Providing you made a (not completely or totally airsafe) sharp turn to Port or Starboard at that bit near where the big rock and ground happens right at the end of the flight?
Or a VTOL equipped 767 might be able to avoid the turny bit at the end also.
At a photo op. He was too busy posing Syrian refugees so they'd look like a queue of Turkish migrants coming over here to run our kebab shops and open a few restaurants. Somehow it also slipped his mind to mention that no-one in either group has much hope of getting a work visa let alone the right to freedom of movement, but in his defence he was really busy spreading lies that month.
No need, anybody with half a brain knows the Spanish have been after Gib for years. But they should be careful, they've got their own 'Gibs' in Morroco, Ceuta and Melilla. And the Canary islands aren't exactly off the coast of Spain are they! And then there's the Basque region as well which would like autonomy. This could be a can of worms they regret opening! And I like the Spanish generally, but on this I don't agree with them.
"No need, anybody with half a brain knows the Spanish have been after Gib for years."
And anyway, the last time the people of Gib took a vote on the matter, they were overwhelmingly (in statistical terms, not 51% government overwhelming mandate terms) in favour of remaining part of the UK. On the other hand, they also voted in the Brexit referendum overwhelmingly to stay in the EU.
This puts them in a bit of a quandary. They are too small to go independent, want to be in the EU and want to be part of the UK and being part of Spain is, I suspect, the last thing they want considering the Spanish economy.
"Why didn't that clever Mr Farage warn us about this last June?"
My guess is because he's not that clever, or maybe just in a bubble of yesmen, as May appears to be. Impervious to fact that doesn't fit their narrative.
Richard North (eureferendum.com) has been warning since before this lot even knew what Art 50 woz.
May et al were only supposed to blow the bloody doors off - instead we look set for customs gridlock as we suddenly become a "Third Country" - by our own volition. They have ruled out the only safe transition path, via continued EEA single market participation in EFTA so we will be more than a bit stuffed.
It's been said that civilization is only 3 meal-less days away from riot. I'd prefer not to test this, but as it looks like we will be I'll be stockpiling dried goods and hoping not to get shot for hoarding...
They'll have ignored all the people below them suggesting how the system should work. Instead they'll have a "digital consultant" selling them bollocks. A company will come in do create the application for them despite them having their own department that could do it. The company will be paid handsomely but deliver nothing before disappearing. Management will continue to have more pointless meetings and continue to ignore the people that work there and actually do the job.
Same in most local government departments.