Accountability Report
Corporate Governance Report
The Directors’ Report
Revenue Scotland Board 2023-24
In line with paragraph 1 of Schedule 1 of the RSTPA, the Scottish Ministers are responsible for appointing between five and nine individuals to be members of the Revenue Scotland Board. One individual is appointed by Ministers as Chair.
Ministers determine the period and terms of appointment of Board members and may re-appoint individuals who already are, or have been on the Board. This is subject to evidence of effective performance and their continued possession of the skills, knowledge, and experience required for the Board at the time of reappointment.
Appointments are made following a public appointments exercise regulated by the Commissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life in Scotland.
Board Members 2023-24
Aidan O'Carroll - Chair
Aidan O’Carroll is a former senior partner at EY, one of the world’s largest professional services firms, which he left in July 2020 after 35 years. Formerly Head of Tax for EY in the UK, as well as a Global Tax leader, Aidan has advised many local and global companies across a wide spectrum of tax and business issues around the world. He has considerable experience in dealing with Regulatory matters and is a Chartered Accountant (ICAS) as well as being a Chartered Director (IoD). Aidan holds a number of Non-Executive Director roles in organisations based in the UK.
Martin McEwen - Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee and Deputy Chair of the Revenue Scotland Board
Martin McEwen is a Chartered Accountant and Tax Advisor. He is the Head of Tax at SSE plc and a member of their Finance Leadership Team. He joined the company in 2008 after a number of years at PwC. He is a regular speaker on tax transparency and responsible corporate tax behaviour. He has sat on both the Scottish Taxes and the Corporate Tax Committees at ICAS.
Jean Lindsay - Chair of the Staffing and Equalities Committee
Jean Lindsay was previously the Director of Human Resources at the Forestry Commission. She is a Chartered Fellow of the Institute of Personnel and Development (FCIPD) and has experience in leadership, strategic people management, health and safety, change management and corporate governance in the public sector. She is also a member of the Board of Crown Estate Scotland and a non-legal member of the Employment Tribunal (Scotland).
Robert MacIntosh - Member of the Audit and Risk Committee
Robert MacIntosh is Professor of Strategic Management and Pro Vice Chancellor for Business and Law at Northumbria University. He has a PhD in Engineering and his work focuses on strategy and change with senior leadership teams. He has worked with over 100 organisations and has significant experience as a chair and trustee. He is a Fellow of the Institution for Engineering and Technology, the Academy of Social Sciences and the British Academy of Management. He is currently the chair of the Chartered Association of Business Schools and was formerly the chair of the social care charity Turning Point Scotland.
Rt Hon Ken Macintosh - Member of the Staffing and Equality Committee
Ken Macintosh was the Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament until stepping down from elected politics in 2021. He began his working life with the BBC, serving as a senior producer and broadcast journalist on a range of news and current affairs programmes. He was elected to the first Scottish Parliament in 1999 and held a number of front bench roles before being chosen as Speaker in 2016. Ken is a member of the Privy Council as well as a Trustee of several charities.
Idong Usoro - Deputy Chair of Staffing and Equalities Committee
Idong Usoro joined as a Board Member on 1 June 2022 and is an experienced CIO, CTO and business transformation leader. Idong was appointed as Deputy Chair on the Staffing and Equalities Committee on 11 August 2022. Idong has qualifications in business and computer science. His work focuses on driving corporate and digital transformations with boards, and technology teams in private, public and third sectors, globally. Idong’ s experience includes having worked with over 100 organisations as a senior technology and data specialist across sectors. Idong is the Head of Enterprise Architecture at Castle Water Limited with responsibility for driving maturity in data and AI technology strategy, information and security governance and the architecture practice in preparation for their next stage of growth. Other recent board experience includes serving on the Abbeyfield England board and an appointment in 2024 to the board of the National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health (NEBOSH) as a Non-Executive Director.
Simon Cunningham - Deputy Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee
Simon Cunningham joined as a full Board Member on 1 January 2021 having previously served on the Audit and Risk Committee from 2019. He was appointed Deputy Chair of the Committee on 4 June 2023. Simon qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1988 and was a partner in Scott-Moncrieff for many years, leading the firm’s outsourced internal audit and risk consulting services. During his time at Scott-Moncrieff, he worked with the boards and audit committees for a wide range of public sector organisations. After four years as Chief Internal Auditor at AEGON UK plc, he joined McInroy & Wood (personal investment managers) as their Director of Compliance and Group Risk, and chaired their Risk Committee for six years. He chairs the Board of the Free Church of Scotland Pension Trustees Limited and the Free Church of Scotland’s Investment Committee. In November 2023, Simon was appointed to the Board of Ferguson Marine (Port Glasgow) Ltd to Chair their Audit & Risk Committee.
Senior Leadership Team 2023-24
Elaine Lorimer – Chief Executive
Elaine Lorimer joined Revenue Scotland as its Chief Executive in March 2016. She is an experienced Chief Executive who has more than 25 years’ leadership experience, working at senior management and board level in the UK Civil Service in a diverse range of organisations covering regulation and operational delivery. She joined Revenue Scotland from the Law Commission of England and Wales, where she was Chief Executive. Prior to that, Elaine worked as a senior legal adviser in local government in Scotland, latterly focusing on regional transport including the privatisation of the railways and introducing alternative funding models to major investments in infrastructure.
Michael Paterson – Head of Tax
Michael Paterson joined Revenue Scotland in March 2019 and has lead responsibility for administration and compliance for the devolved taxes, ensuring they are collected and administered efficiently and effectively. He also has the Senior Responsible Officer role for the Devolved Taxes Programme. Michael has extensive knowledge and operational experience of UK taxes, particularly those dealing with international matters, resulting from 30 years as a tax professional with HMRC. His wide-ranging and senior tax leadership roles have covered technical, policy, and investigation work.
Neil Ferguson – Head of Corporate Functions
Neil Ferguson has worked on devolved taxes since 2012 and been with Revenue Scotland since 2016. He has responsibility for seven teams: People Services, Governance, Statistics and Management Information, Strategy and Communications, Tax Development, Finance, and Information Technology. Prior to his current post, he worked on the Additional Dwelling Supplement, led the Air Departure Tax programme and the development of corporate plans. With the Scottish Government, he was Bill Team Leader for the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (Scotland) Bill and other areas of devolved tax legislation. He also worked on the Referendum Bill and the introduction of the Home Report, which transformed the approach to the buying and selling of homes in Scotland.
Mairi Gibson – Head of Legal Services
Mairi Gibson joined Revenue Scotland in February 2020. She has been a government lawyer since 1998. Over the years she has been seconded to various posts within the Government Legal Service for Scotland including the Scottish Government Legal Directorate, Scottish Parliament and the Office of the Advocate General.
Statement of the Accountable Officer’s responsibilities
Under section 19(4) of the Public Finance and Accountability (Scotland) Act 2000, Scottish Ministers have directed Revenue Scotland to prepare for each financial year a statement of accounts in the form and on the basis set out in the Accounts Direction. The accounts are prepared on an accruals basis and must give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of Revenue Scotland and of its income and expenditure, Statement of Financial Position and cash flows for the financial year.
In preparing the accounts, the Accountable Officer is required to comply with the requirements of the Government Financial Reporting Manual (FReM) and to:
- observe the Accounts Direction issued by Scottish Ministers, including the relevant accounting and disclosure requirements, and apply suitable accounting policies on a consistent basis
- make judgements and estimates on a reasonable basis
- state whether applicable accounting standards as set out in the Government Financial Reporting Manual have been followed, and disclose and explain any material departures in the financial statements
- prepare the financial statements on a going concern basis
- confirm that the Annual Report and Accounts as a whole is fair, balanced and understandable. The Accountable Officer takes personal responsibility for the Annual Report and Accounts and the judgements required for determining that it is fair, balanced and understandable.
The Permanent Secretary of the Scottish Government (SG), who is the Principal Accountable Officer for the Scottish Administration has designated, in accordance with sections 14 and 15 of the Public Finance and Accountability (Scotland) Act 2000, the Chief Executive of Revenue Scotland as Accountable Officer for Revenue Scotland.
The responsibilities of an Accountable Officer, including responsibility for the propriety and regularity of the public finances for which they are answerable, for keeping proper records and for safeguarding the Revenue Scotland’s assets, are set out in the Scottish Public Finance Manual.
The Accountable Officer may consult with the SG Chief Financial Officer (CFO) on any aspects of the duties applying to Accountable Officers in the Scottish Administration. The Accountable Officer must consult the CFO on any action which they consider is inconsistent with their duties on financial, regulatory or propriety grounds, and specifically where they seek written authority from the Scottish Ministers or a direction from the Board of Revenue Scotland. In practice, the Chief Executive will delegate authority widely to other employees of Revenue Scotland but cannot, on that account, disclaim responsibility. The Chief Executive is responsible for informing the Principal Accountable Officer about any complaints about Revenue Scotland accepted by the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) for investigation and about the response to any subsequent recommendations from the SPSO.
As the Accountable Officer, I have taken all the steps that I ought to have taken to make myself aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that Revenue Scotland’s auditors are aware of that information. So far as I am aware, there is no relevant audit information of which the auditors are unaware. I confirm that this Annual Report and Accounts, taken as a whole, is fair, balanced and understandable, and I take personal responsibility for the Annual Report and Accounts and the judgements required for determining that it is fair, balanced and understandable.
Governance Statement
In the paragraphs below, I report on the governance arrangements in place within Revenue Scotland.
Governance Framework
Revenue Scotland is responsible for the administration and collection of Scotland’s wholly devolved taxes. The relevant powers and duties of Revenue Scotland, and of the Scottish Ministers are set out in the Revenue Scotland and Tax Powers Act 2014.
Scottish Ministers are responsible for appointing the Board of Revenue Scotland following a public appointment exercise, regulated by the Commissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life in Scotland.
Ministers must not direct, or otherwise seek to control Revenue Scotland in the exercise of its functions but they may give guidance. This guidance must be published and laid before the Scottish Parliament unless Ministers consider that to do so would prejudice the effective exercise by Revenue Scotland of its functions. Scottish Ministers are responsible for setting rates, bands and thresholds relating to the devolved taxes, subject to the approval of the Scottish Parliament.
The Board of Revenue Scotland is collectively responsible for the leadership and direction of the organisation and for ensuring that it carries out its statutory functions effectively and efficiently. It may delegate any of its functions to an individual Board member, a committee of the Board, the Chief Executive, or any other staff member, but it will retain its responsibility for carrying out its function.
As the Chief Executive of Revenue Scotland, I am employed by, and accountable to, the Board of Revenue Scotland for the day-to-day running of the organisation and its operational performance. In this role, I seek assurance that appropriate controls are in place across the organisation, and in respect of the partners whom we rely on to support us in delivering our objectives. I can confirm that these have been in operation during 2023-24 and to the date of signing these accounts.
I am supported by the Senior Leadership Team (SLT), who oversee the day-to-day business of Revenue Scotland, with each member taking responsibility for a specific area. The SLT is made up of the Chief Executive, the Head of Tax, the Head of Corporate Functions and the Head of Legal Services.