New Finance Director at the Valuation Office Agency

Colin Bailey takes up the post of Director of Finance and Planning at the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) today, moving from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).

Commenting on the appointment, VOA Chief Executive, Andrew Hudson said:

“I am very pleased that Colin has joined the Agency. He brings extensive financial and operational experience from across the public sector having worked with the Treasury as well as for HMRC. He arrives at a time of considerable change in the organisation, and will help us close in on delivery of our 2010 objectives to provide a truly world class service to all our customers.”

Colin was with HMRC for some 25 years. He specialised in investment management and change, including overseeing the Comprehensive Spending Review settlement for HMRC, before becoming Finance Director for the HMRC Departmental Transformation Programme in 2006.

Colin’s arrival completes a series of new appointments to the VOA Board this year. May saw the appointments of Jon Wrennall from HMRC as Chief Information Officer, Liz Hirst, who recently worked for the Land Registry, as Director of Commercial Services, and Niall Walsh, who had headed the Agency’s Birmingham Group, becomes Director of National and Central Services.

Andrew Hudson said: “I am pleased to have a full team in place, combining colleagues with a strong VOA background and others from outside the organisation.”

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Notes to editors
1. The VOA is an Executive Agency of HMRC. Its main responsibilities are assessing rateable values for the purpose of non-domestic rating (business rates) and valuing domestic properties for Council Tax purposes in England and Wales. It is also involved in establishing capital values for HMRC in connection with capital gains tax and inheritance tax as well as carrying out a range of property related services for other government departments and public sector bodies. It has around 4,000 employees and a network of 86 offices throughout England, Wales and Scotland. The VOA’s targets, and progress towards them, are set out in the Agency’s Forward Plan, available at www.voa.gov.uk/publications/forward_plan/Forward_Plan_2008-11.pdf

2. Colin Bailey has a first class degree in Accounting and undertook his professional training within the (then) Inland Revenue qualifying as a Chartered Certified Accountant in 2001. In 2003 he was seconded to a charity working for schools in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Colin is a non-executive advisor to the environmental charity Capacity Global, (www.capacity.org.uk) lives in Kent and is married with two teenage boys.

3. The full VOA Board is: Andrew Hudson, Chief Executive; David Park, Deputy Chief Executive and Director, Local Taxation; Paul Sanderson, Director of Data and Special Projects; Steve Hartnell, Director, Human Resources; Mary Morrison-Paton, Head of Communication & Customer Insight; Jon Wrennall, Chief Information Officer; Niall Walsh, Director, National and Central Services; Liz Hirst, Director, Commercial Services; Colin Bailey, Director of Finance and Planning; and, Non-Executive Directors, Dawn Johnson and Jane Earl.

Media Enquiries
Paul Clements
Tel: 020 7506 1970
Email: paul.clements@voa.gsi.gov.uk