Final Report of the Parliamentary Inquiry
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Unprecedented injustice | House of Representatives of the States General Placeholder 35 510 Childcare Allowance Parliamentary Inquiry No. 2 LETTER FROM THE PARLIAMENTARY INQUIRY COMMITTEE To the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the States General The Hague, 17 December 2020 The Childcare Allowance Parliamentary Inquiry Committee on hereby presents its report entitled ‘Ongekend onrecht’ (‘Unprecedented injustice’) on the parliamentary inquiry that it carried out in accordance with the task assigned to it on 2 July 2020 (Parliamentary document 35 510, no. 1). The reports of the hearings that took place under oath are appended.1 Chairman of the Committee, Van Dam Clerk of the Committee, Freriks 1 Parliamentary document 35 510, no. 3. page 1/137 Unprecedented injustice | House of Representatives of the States General page 2/137 Unprecedented injustice | House of Representatives of the States General The members of the Childcare Allowance Parliamentary Inquiry Committee, from left to right: R.R. van Aalst, R.M. Leijten, S. Belhaj, C.J.L. van Dam, A.H. Kuiken, T.M.T. van der Lee, J. van Wijngaarden, and F.M. van Kooten-Arissen The members and the staff of the Childcare Allowance Parliamentary Inquiry Committee, from left to right: J.F.C. Freriks, R.M. Leijten, F.M. van Kooten-Arissen, R.J. de Bakker, C.J.L. van Dam, R.R. van Aalst, A.J. van Meeuwen, S. Belhaj, A.H. Kuiken, A.C. Verbruggen-Groot, T.M.T. van der Lee, J. van Wijngaarden, and M.C.C. van Haeften. W. Bernard-Kesting does not appear in the photograph. page 3/137 Unprecedented injustice | House of Representatives of the States General Contents PART I .............................................................................................................. 6 Observations: The rule of law on trial .............................................................. 7 Introduction ................................................................................................... 10 Purpose of the inquiry ........................................................................................ 10 The committee’s terms of reference .................................................................... 10 Questions for the inquiry .................................................................................... 11 The investigation .............................................................................................. 11 Guide for the reader .......................................................................................... 12 Answers to the inquiry questions ................................................................... 13 Inquiry question 1 ............................................................................................. 13 Inquiry question 2 ............................................................................................. 20 Inquiry question 3 ............................................................................................. 27 Inquiry question 4 ............................................................................................. 32 PART II .......................................................................................................... 34 Chapter 1 Prelude .......................................................................................... 35 2004: Childcare Act (Wet kinderopvang) .............................................................. 35 2005: General Act on Means-Tested Benefits (Algemene Wet Inkomensafhankelijke Regelingen) ...................................................................................................... 35 2005-2008: Focus on payment of benefits............................................................ 36 2009: Focus on tackling fraud and improper use ................................................... 36 2010: Rutte I coalition agreement, tougher anti-fraud policy .................................. 38 2010 – 2011: House of Representatives motion about parents at De Appelbloesem ... 39 Chapter 2 Tightening the anti-fraud policy ..................................................... 41 Fiscal agenda and 2012 Taxation Plan .................................................................. 41 Rutte-Asscher coalition agreement ...................................................................... 42 The De Appelbloesem case did not result in a different approach ............................. 42 Social Affairs and Employment (Stricter Enforcement and Sanctions) Act ................. 44 Intensification of the monitoring of allowances – business case ............................... 45 Anti-fraud management team and CAF ................................................................ 47 Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment fraud policy – the Childminder Centre Quality Improvement and Anti-Fraud project (KEF) .......................................................... 51 The ministerial anti-fraud committee ................................................................... 52 Chapter 3 Signals about the consequences for parents .................................. 55 August 2013 – signals from Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment officials: repayment in full is a harsh penalty for uninformed parents ................................... 55 December 2013 – June 2014: letters to minister Asscher ....................................... 56 Direct funding ................................................................................................... 56 Proportionate repayments in the wake of De Parel, 2014–2016 ............................... 58 2016-2017 – The run-up to the “Geen powerplay maar fair play” report by the National Ombudsman ..................................................................................................... 62 Chapter 4 Problems come into view ............................................................... 67 Report by National Ombudsman – the CAF 11 affair was seen as an isolated case, the problems of which had been resolved. ................................................................. 67 Involvement of Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment with the report by the National Ombudsman ........................................................................................ 70 Abandonment of development of direct funding .................................................... 72 page 4/137 Unprecedented injustice | House of Representatives of the States General Investigation of the options for proportionate repayments ...................................... 76 No compensation for CAF 11 parents – only limited damages ................................. 78 Investigation into other CAF cases....................................................................... 80 Council of State ruling leading to establishment of the Donner Committee ............... 81 Chapter 5 The difficult road to compensation ................................................. 85 Origin of the intention to compensate .................................................................. 85 Compensation must wait for Donner .................................................................... 88 Discussions in the council of ministers and dealings with the House of Representatives ...................................................................................................................... 91 Repayments in other CAF cases .......................................................................... 91 Decision to change to proportionate allocations ..................................................... 94 Rulings by the Council of State on the ‘all or nothing’ approach – October 2019 ........ 94 State secretary Snel informed about malice/gross negligence ................................. 96 Publication of report by Benefits Administration Advisory Committee and decision on compensation in relation to CAF 11 ..................................................................... 98 PART III ........................................................................................................ 101 Accountability ............................................................................................... 102 Background ..................................................................................................... 102 Composition of committee ................................................................................. 102 Preparatory phase ............................................................................................ 102 Demands ........................................................................................................ 103 Supply of information ....................................................................................... 103 Choice of witnesses and the course of the public hearings ..................................... 107 Other duties of the committee ........................................................................... 107 Composition of staff ......................................................................................... 109 External advisors ............................................................................................. 109 Appendix 1. Lessons for witnesses ................................................................ 110 Appendix 2. Paper: All or nothing .................................................................. 113 page 5/137 Unprecedented injustice | House of Representatives of the States General PART I page 6/137 Unprecedented injustice | House of Representatives