HMRC denies board suspension report

16/04/2008

Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC) have denied allegations that it has suspended its main board following a review into its loss of two CDs containing the child benefit data of 25 million people.

The allegations follow a review into an incident which sparked an outcry last November, when chancellor Alistair Darling revealed that two unencrypted CDs had disappeared after HMRC had them couriered to the National Audit Office.

According to Computer Weekly, HMRC’s acting chairman said the organisation had decided to ‘pause the board in its current format and to appoint an interim panel of advisors for six months, allowing a shift in focus and skills’.

Darlene Coker, a spokesperson for HMRC, said the report was ‘not factual’, adding that although they had advertised for posts on the board, the organisation’s top execs were still in place.

She added that Hartnett had announced in January that the board would be renamed as the ‘Executive and Advisors Committee’, with four new advisors to assist in the running of the 600 HMRC offices.

“A non-executive chair post was advertised in the Sunday Times on March 2,” she said. “Once that position is filled, Dave Hartnett will continue to lead HMRC until a permanent chief executive is appointed.”