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| Jon Thompson |
The Prime Minister has appointed Edward Troup as Executive Chair and First Permanent Secretary at HMRC and Jon Thompson, currently Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Defence, as HMRC’s Chief Executive and First Permanent Secretary. The appointments have been made with the approval of the Cabinet Secretary and the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Edward, HMRC’s most senior tax expert, has been Tax Assurance Commissioner since 2012 and leads the Central Tax and Strategy Group. In his new role, which he takes up on 5 April, Edward will chair the HMRC Board, and be responsible for creating and overseeing the strategy of the department. He will be a First Permanent Secretary, will remain as a Commissioner for HM Revenue and Customs and will also attend ExCom. The arrangements for assuring large tax settlements in HMRC will be reviewed following Edward Troup’s appointment as Executive Chair.
Jon Thompson has been Permanent Secretary at the MOD since September 2012, after a career in finance in both the private and public sectors (see here for his biography). Jon will be a First Permanent Secretary, will chair ExCom and be responsible for the delivery of HMRC’s strategy, objectives and performance. He will also be HMRC’s Accounting Officer.
Cabinet Secretary, Sir Jeremy Heywood, said: “I would like to congratulate Edward and Jon on their appointments. Edward’s deep tax expertise and long experience in both HMRC and HM Treasury make him an excellent choice to lead the department through an important phase of change and amid unprecedented public interest in taxation. Jon’s experience of leading one of the biggest departments in government, coupled with his strong financial background, make him strongly placed to deliver HMRC’s ambitious transformation plans, large-scale operations and modern customer services.”
The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rt Hon George Osborne MP, said: "These are exceptional appointments to HMRC. We have one of the country's pre-eminent tax experts and an outstanding civil service leader with experience of transforming large organisations. Edward’s wealth of experience in tax and Jon’s operational and financial expertise, most recently as Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Defence, will prove a huge asset to HMRC as it improves its customer service and continues its vital work to clamp down on tax avoidance and evasion.”
Edward added: “I am delighted to be appointed as Executive Chair. It has been a privilege to be Tax Assurance Commissioner over the past three years and I look forward to leading HMRC along the path of transformation that has been established and to working with Jon Thompson as the new Chief Executive in ensuring the delivery of the ambitious plan that we agreed with ministers in our Spending Review settlement in November.
“By 2020-21, HMRC will be a smaller, more highly-skilled, more efficient, more modern and digital organisation, bringing together tax, data and operational expertise in large regional centres. In doing this, we need to build on our reputation for professionalism and impartiality, to maintain the public confidence that is the cornerstone of our tax system.
“I will work closely with Jon and our other ExCom colleagues to ensure that we continue to meet our vital purpose of collecting the funds that pay for public services, helping the honest majority to get their tax right and making it hard for the dishonest minority to cheat the system.”
Jon Thompson said: “I am excited to be taking up the challenge of leading the delivery of the department that raises the revenues that pay for the nation’s public services. With 50 million individual and five million business customers, HMRC operates at a scale that few organisations can match. I have long been impressed by the professionalism, expertise and commitment that HMRC’s people show in serving the public and I look forward to joining at this important time in the department’s evolution.”
Tax does have to be taxing.
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This appointment fails to inspire if viewed against the numerous problems that have been reported concerning the MOD.
ReplyDeleteHe's excited? Wonder if he will be excited to know that staff in one of the offices have been told that they must tell their managers why they want to get up from their desks, even if it's because they want to go to the loo. Perhaps he'll be excited enough to arrange for some of these useless managers to start doing some work rather than picking on their staff. I won't hold my breath though.
ReplyDeleteWonder if thats the same office where management;
ReplyDeleteevacuated staff past the postroom despite the fact that there was a suspect bio package sat in there?
Made staff struggle into work in forecast blizzards in horrendous conditions when Police and media were advising against any movement due to conditions prevailing?
Had 'Stasi' staff 'police' overseeing car park for 'parking' violations, as if there was not enough work for staff to do?
Threatened staff with disciplinary action for 'defacing' unused white board with nothing remotely offensive?
Refused to put up signs urging staff to wash hands after using toilets, despite various continuing bug outbreaks?
Had enforced kitchen cleaning rotas despite the ongoing contract with cleaners to do same?
Yep, you could not make this stuff up, and don't forget the row in another that made the press over the use of proprietory cleaner that had not had a H&S assessment, turns out that the 'official' one had a series of reported hazards associated with it when looked at!
Trouble is no-one cares, but perhaps it gives some indication as to why HMRC is shite?
And don't mention the shredding, never mind what they shred, they have to pay a fortune for it to be shredded by contractor whilst still having staff shred the 'sensitive@ stuff, and all this in a paperless system - double bollocks. ;)
No matter who came in, it will be impossible to turn around a department that was once the best two in the World and is now in total and utter meltdown. Even Canute couldn't stop this tide.
ReplyDeleteHmrc is totally fucked. To close over 100 offices. Make tens of thousands of qualified, skilled , experienced staff redundant, replace them with school leavers and the promise of some non existent digital technology and the inevitable collapse is sure to follow.
ReplyDeleteAgree with all the comments. There's no turning this department around now. It's downhill all the way. There seems to be a concerted effort to push out all the old, experienced staff who are on those old-style contracts that give them better rights, and a rush to employ new people who will sign these new contracts that give them less. They are giving them three weeks training and then expecting them to have the same breadth of knowledge as people working there for 25/30 years. Or rather, they don't really give a sod if they don't know anything - it just looks good on paper. My rule of thumb: if you see senior management's lips moving, they're lying. It's impossible to believe a word they say.
ReplyDeleteBrave New World, grow the business, empowerment, no silo's, free thinking, transparency, value for money, customer focussed oh yes, and protecting AND collecting the revenue.
ReplyDeleteI call bullshit!
HMRC is NOT a business but a public service that I need to be served by when I need it. Closing down so many offices as they have with the Enquiry Centres will make it even more impossible to deal with.
ReplyDelete