Speeches by Murray.

“Do you mean previously?”

“One thing that I have noticed about my approach to jobs I have had in the past is that—it has been in local government and city government—I am very focused on delivery and about how you make public sector organisations deliver against political priorities, whether that is in City Hall or a council before that. That fo…”

“I suppose it depends what you mean. Actual changes to the tax code have implications for the design of Making Tax Digital, because if you want to change the tax code you then have to change the MTD infrastructure and the IT architecture. The actual change itself can cause an impact on MTD in terms of developing the MTD…”

“They will not be able to interact with HMRC without having that registration, yes.”

“It is a really important point. It is not sharing any secrets to say that customer service has not been at the place that it should be. The customer service metrics recently have ticked up. I am not claiming credit for that, but HMRC has managed to improve some of the metrics around answering the phones recently. There…”

“Next time you summon me, I will ask that question again and I hope we will see a metric of improvement on that.”

“Part of the programme ahead of the April 2026 introduction of the £50,000 threshold is to focus on what support businesses need to get ready for it. That will take consideration of some businesses and some individual taxpayers doing it without much difficulty and others requiring more support, help or guidance to make …”

“It does not matter. You can check your PAYE. You can check how much is being downloaded month by month. You can check your national insurance number.”

“National insurance is a good example. On the app, you can check your national insurance number. You can download it into your Google Wallet so you have it there if you cannot remember it. It is a really good service. There should not be so many people calling up, taking up advisers’ time, trying to get their national i…”

“Any digital-first strategy has to be mindful of digital exclusion, because we are not like another company where someone can go to an alternative company. People have to interact with HMRC to pay their taxes. We are a public service. We have to make sure we are accessible. Having said that, while we need to make sure t…”

“People’s view of data, data privacy and data sharing changes over the years as more and more stuff is done online. We all know that our supermarket has a lot of information about us as well as the Government. It is one reason why making sure we are investing in the IT foundations of HMRC to protect against things such …”

“I do not have the number in front of me, Dame Harriett. I can write to you with that. There is the freeze in thresholds until April 2028, which will mean more people will pay tax. There are two parts to your question. If you disaggregate it, there are two sections to it. One is about the number of people paying tax and…”

“Can I just check so that I write to you with the right information? By number of customers, you mean number of people paying tax?”

“The metrics that we are currently working towards are ones that we inherited from the previous Government. We will be looking, as part of our work to improve and modernise the tax system, at what metrics are appropriate going forward. I think that we have the stats here. I might ask Dan to update you.”

“Sorry, can I just say, on that point around the metrics, that that was not exactly what I said? We will be looking at what metrics are appropriate. If we are going to be a digital-first organisation, we should consider metrics in that context.”

“It starts in April 2026, so that will be set out ahead of then. I very much expect it to be digital.”

“It is not online. There will be some questions to answer. We can assume that it will be a digitally-led process for registration, but I can update the Committee in due course about what we are considering in terms of minimising the burden, while also making sure it is an effective process.”

“Thanks very much, Chair, for having me today. If I set the context of when I was appointed, under Rachel Reeves as Chancellor, we had some very clear priorities for HMRC, which I am sure I will come to later in the session today. I was determined to drive those changes through the organisation at HMRC. I know that diff…”

“It is a different job. The role that Jayne-Anne Gadhia plays is a fantastic benefit to HMRC. She brings a huge amount of experience, counsel and advice for me. Her staying on as the lead NED has been really important.”

“I wanted to reform the board around our priorities as an incoming Administration.”