Paul Gray succeeds Sir David Varney

HMRC has announced that Paul Gray will become acting chairman when Sir David Varney leaves at the end of this month.

Paul joined HM Treasury in 1969 as an economist. In the late 1970s he spent two years as a corporate planner with Booker McConnell Ltd. Between 1988 and 1990 he was Economic Affairs Private Secretary to the Prime Minister. In 1990 Paul returned to the Treasury working on monetary policy, serving as a member of the EU Monetary Committee. He then became Head of Personnel and Central Services, and was also a non-executive director of Laing Management Ltd. From 1995 to 1998 he was Director of Budget and Public Finances. In 1998 Paul joined what was then the Department of Social Security (DSS) as head of policy. Before becoming Deputy Chairman, he was Second Permanent Secretary and Managing Director, Pensions and Disability in the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) playing a major role in forming DWP through the merger of the former DSS, the Employment Service and parts of the Department for Education and Employment (DfEE).