Public appointment: Chair reappointed to the Revenue Scotland Board

The Minister for Public Finance, announced the reappointment of Aidan O’Carroll as Chair of Revenue Scotland.

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). Adian holds a number of Non-Executive Director roles in organisations based in the UK. He took up the role of Chair of Revenue Scotland in August 2021 where his extensive experience has helped to give insights into wider regulatory trends, organisational transformations as well as being a leadership mentor, which are of great value to Revenue Scotland.

Reappointment

This reappointment will be for 3 years and will run from 1 August 2024 to 31 July 2027.

This reappointment is regulated by the Ethical Standards Commissioner.

Remuneration

The appointment attracts a daily remuneration of £413.92 for a time commitment of up to 48 days per annum.

Other ministerial appointments

Aidan O’Carroll does not hold any other public appointments.

Political activity

All appointments are made on merit and political activity plays no part in the selection process.  However, in accordance with the original Nolan recommendations, there is a requirement for appointees’ political activity within the last five years (if there is any to be declared) to be made public.   

Aidan O’Carroll has had no political activity within the last five years.

Background

Revenue Scotland is Scotland’s first tax authority since the Act of Union in 1707. Following Devolution in 1999, The Scotland Act 2012 gave the Scottish Parliament powers to administer two Scottish taxes; Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) and Scottish Landfill Tax (SLfT). These taxes came into effect on 1 April 2015, replacing their UK equivalents (Stamp Duty Land Tax and UK Landfill Tax respectively).

Revenue Scotland was established as a Non-Ministerial Office (NMO) on 1 January 2015. It is independent of the Scottish Government and Scottish Ministers and is accountable instead to the Scottish Parliament.

The organisation has a Board with seven members, a Chief Executive and a Senior Leadership Team. The Board is responsible for determining the overall vision, strategic aims and objectives of Revenue Scotland, in accordance with their statutory duties and within the framework agreed with Scottish Ministers.  It also oversees the delivery of planned results by monitoring performance against agreed strategic aims, objectives and targets.