Public appointment: members appointed to Revenue Scotland

The Minister for Public Finance, Planning and Community Wealth, Mr Arthur, today announced the appointment of Rt Hon Ken Macintosh, Professor Robert MacIntosh and Mr Idong Usoro as Members of Revenue Scotland.

Members

Rt Hon Ken Macintosh is a trusted figure at the heart of public life in Scotland with the proven judgement and the creative, persuasive, and communicative skills which come from a wealth of experience in challenging and high-profile roles. He began his working life with the BBC, both in London and Scotland, before his election to the first Scottish Parliament in 1999. Over the next two decades he held a number of front bench positions and in 2016 was chosen by his peers to serve as Presiding Officer. In that role he secured the independence and reputation of the institution, demonstrating the decision making and grasp of good governance required to introduce a programme of Parliamentary reform, and to steer the institution through the heat of the Brexit and constitutional debates as well as the difficulties caused by the Covid pandemic. Ken is a member of the Privy Council as well as a Trustee of several charities.

Professor 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. His research has involved strategy development and execution with over 100 organisations and he has significant board room experience as a chair and trustee. His expertise in leadership and strategic change will support the work of Revenue Scotland. 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 social care charity, Turning Point Scotland.

Mr Idong Usoro has an extensive background in digital transformation and technical solutions that combine industry standards and integration technologies with expert knowledge on enterprise applications, cloud technology stacks, data governance, data science and cognitive systems. He brings broad technical skills with particular experience of combining architecture and emerging technologies to drive innovation across 100+ organisations. Idong has 2 decades of developing digital strategies and technical solutions in Europe and North America having worked across technical and IT leadership capacities with central, local government, non-government organisations and private multinational companies across a number of sectors. Idong also has an extensive research and innovation background as lead, principal investigator, collaborator and evaluator on technical projects with private organisations, innovation agencies like UKRI/Innovate UK, NHS Care Commissioners, Cancer Research UK, European Innovation and Research Institutes and the European Commission.

Appointment

The appointments will be for three years and will run from 1 June 2022 to 31 May 2025.

The appointments are regulated by the Ethical Standards Commissioner.

Remuneration

The appointments are part-time and attract a remuneration of £297.60 for a time commitment of up to three days per month.

Other ministerial appointments

Rt Hon Ken Macintosh, Professor Robert MacIntosh and Mr Idong Usoro do 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.   

Rt Hon Ken Macintosh served as an MSP, but left the Labour party in 2016 after being elected by colleagues across the chamber as Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament. He stood down from Parliament in 2021.

Professor Robert MacIntosh and Mr Idong Usoro have had no political activity within the last five years.

Background

About Revenue Scotland

Revenue Scotland is the tax authority with responsibility for the collection and management of Scotland’s devolved 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 on 1 January 2015 through the Revenue Scotland and Tax Powers Act 2014 (RSTPA). Since then, revenue of around £4 billion has been raised by Revenue Scotland.

Revenue Scotland is directly accountable to the Scottish Parliament and operates independently of the Scottish Government.