UK tax collectors' IT boss Mark Dearnley steps down Mark Dearnley – the chief digital and information officer at HMRC, the UK's tax collection agency – is waving goodbye to his £185,000-a-year job in September as he departs for the private sector. Dearnley joined HMRC in October 2013 under a three-year contract. He described his remit as the transformation of its IT, creation …
I've said this before, but maybe it's just me; I've never had a bad experince with them (yet!) certinaly never had a problem getting a phone answered.
I've done it now haven't I. I've jinxed myself one month before changing jobs...
[Awaits an emergency tax code that lasts 6 months]
As a humble user I don't give a tinker's damn whether it's the 17th most advanced (as measured on the Beaufort scale...) I want it to be reliable, well organized, functional across all devices I might want to use, and performs well.
Boasts about "most advanced" smell like a sales pitch from Crapita to Jim Hacker...
"It is also bringing 300 Capgemini and Fujitsu staff in-house via its privately-owned but HMRC-run limited company."
How can a public body that is a govermennt department 'privately own' a limited company? Who is/are the owner(s) of this company? Is this some sort of ruse to deguise employment by a government dpartment that can avoid Civil Service pay and pensions obligations? A private company handling UK citizen data - When did any of us consent to that Data Processor dealing with our data?
There are so many other questions about the nature of this setup - I do hope the Information Commissioner's Office and Public Accounts Committee investigates this arrangement...
"How can a public body that is a govermennt department 'privately own' a limited company?" By registering at Companies House.
"Who is/are the owner(s) of this company?" Whoever owns the share(s).
"Is this some sort of ruse to deguise employment by a government dpartment that can avoid Civil Service pay and pensions obligations?" Yes.
"Is this some sort of ruse to deguise employment by a government dpartment that can avoid Civil Service pay and pensions obligations?"
Yes. Like it or not, Cap and Fujitsu staff have got oodles of experience running HMRC's systems. Many of them were EDS before they were Cap/FJS and have been there donkeys. They simply will not work for a civil service salary. A dev team lead, for example, would be looking at dropping from the 50-60ish range down to 35. On the plus side it isolates the pensions obligations, but frankly a lot of these guys have been TUPE'd about so many times they've managed to accrue both private sector pay and public sector pensions.
The end result is this new pseudo-private body has mostly only managed to recruit the woefully underpaid apprentices and other similar junior staff. Everyone else took one look at the terms and conditions and said no thanks, safe in the knowledge there'll almost certainly be a nice juicy round of £700 a day contracts to keep the lights on when the plan inevitably goes tits up.
"When did any of us consent to that Data Processor dealing with our data?"
You don't have to. There's no requirement that the Controller seek consent for using a third-party Processor, as long as technical and organisational measures are in place to ensure DPA compliance. The burden for doing this remains with the Controller at all times, and if the data is being processed to satisfy a statutory requirement, the Controller is *always* the statutory body.
tl;dr they can do what they like with your data but it's on them if anything goes wrong, no matter what contracts or organisational measures are put in place.
"Mont Blanc fountain pen, that's mine.....Huey Lewis & The News CD, that's mine....Er...copy of Heat magazine, that's mine.... thats the drawers emptied. Er....pot plant from Val...Er...no i'll leave that....Er.....Ergonomic Executive Chair, am i being a bit cheeky if i take that.....probably won't get it pass Tony on Security....Er.....what else is mine.....don't want to have to come back tomorrow.....come on think.....Er.....Shit, oh yeah, almost forgot the Cheat Codes to sidestep all HMRC rules and regulations, would've been fucked in my new job if i'd forgotten that, phew!...Er...pot plant, pot plant, if i leave it would Val get upset.....Er...fuck...im going to need another box....
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