Welfare fiasco chief 'to resign' Robert Devereux, the permanent secretary to the Department for Work and Pensions, will be criticised in a report by the Commons public accounts committee after a string of problems emerged in the development of the flagship universal credit programme. Universal Credit, regarded as Mr Duncan Smith's personal political mission, will merge several benefits into a single payment that will be adjusted to ensure that claimants are better off in work than on welfare. It found £34 million of wasted spending and large flaws in the project's £425 million IT system. A furious Mr Duncan Smith rebuked civil servants in his department over the failings, accusing them of lacking professionalism and having a "culture of secrecy." Mr Devereux admitted to the committee that it had taken him more than a year to realise there were problems. He also insisted he had no way of knowing what was going wrong. It is thought that the committee's report, due to be published within weeks, will be highly critical of his role in the affair. However, a source yesterday said MPs were keen to ensure that their conclusions were seen in Whitehall as "fair and justified."