Estimates showing ?10.9bn in unpaid tax was written off and medical negligence could cost ?15.7bn are "gobsmacking", says the Commons spending watchdog.
The public accounts committee has published its verdict on the new Whole of Government Accounts (WGA).
The report also predicts the long-term costs of decommissioning nuclear power stations could hit ?56.7bn while public sector pensions could cost ?1,132bn.
Ministers said it was the world's most ambitious set of public accounts.
The figures are a set of financial records for the entire UK public sector, from 1 April 2009 to 31 March 2010 - under the previous Labour government - based on commercial accounting principles.
They are intended to show what the government owns, owes, spends and receives.
The public accounts committee criticised the Treasury for providing figures that were "too dated", because of the 20 months it took to get them published, and complained that some major costs were omitted such as the publicly-owned banks and Network Rail.
But its chairman, Labour's Margaret Hodge, told the BBC: "This is the first time they have been published and I think we should welcome that."
The WGA included estimates for costs decades into the future, "and that's why we've got some really gob smacking figures", she told the BBC.
This sort of stuff baffles me .... the uk is in mountains of debt and the government does not enforce anyway of claiming these taxes back ???
Makes me wonder if this government in any part is fit for purpose ????
The public accounts committee has published its verdict on the new Whole of Government Accounts (WGA).
The report also predicts the long-term costs of decommissioning nuclear power stations could hit ?56.7bn while public sector pensions could cost ?1,132bn.
Ministers said it was the world's most ambitious set of public accounts.
The figures are a set of financial records for the entire UK public sector, from 1 April 2009 to 31 March 2010 - under the previous Labour government - based on commercial accounting principles.
They are intended to show what the government owns, owes, spends and receives.
The public accounts committee criticised the Treasury for providing figures that were "too dated", because of the 20 months it took to get them published, and complained that some major costs were omitted such as the publicly-owned banks and Network Rail.
But its chairman, Labour's Margaret Hodge, told the BBC: "This is the first time they have been published and I think we should welcome that."
The WGA included estimates for costs decades into the future, "and that's why we've got some really gob smacking figures", she told the BBC.
This sort of stuff baffles me .... the uk is in mountains of debt and the government does not enforce anyway of claiming these taxes back ???
Makes me wonder if this government in any part is fit for purpose ????
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