Corporate Responsibility Leadership at HMRC

The Board of HMRC is committed to Corporate Responsibility (CR). Paul Gray, the Chairman, is actively involved with Business in the Community (BITC) and the Prince of Waless charities. In Autumn 2006, he hosted HMRCs CR Summit (PDF 491K) and in May 2007 he reported our success at being placed in the ‘gold category of the Sunday Times Index of the Top 100 corporately responsible businesses.

Chris Hopson, Director of Corporate Communications and Marketing, has overall responsibility for CR and is the Board level champion for CR and Diversity.

The Corporate Responsibility Steering Group (CRSG), which is a sub committee of the Board, oversees the implementation of our CR plans and operates in line with the Corporate Responsibility Steering Groups Terms of Reference (PDF 28K)

The CRSG makes regular reports on progress and seeks endorsement from the Board on key decisions. It is chaired by a non-executive director and its membership includes directors representing a range of business units. It provides the strategic direction for progressing CR activity across HMRC and monitors progress against the Corporate Responsibility (CR) Strategic Framework (PDF 117K).
It is supported on environmental activities by a Sustainable Development Operating Committee.

Day to day management

The CR Unit oversees CR activity and manages the implementation of the CR Framework to - 'make it happen!' Its role is complemented by a CR Forum representing six 'pioneer' business units that are developing strategies to embed CR into their business activities.

Our CR objectives are to:

  • establish a direct relationship with our customers and stakeholders to help us understand them and them to understand us
  • protect the environment by meeting the Governments environmental targets on carbon emissions, water use, waste and recycling
  • ensure that our success as an organisation is linked to the success of the communities we serve
  • improve the general publics understanding of the importance of taxation and our other functions so they can empathise more with our role and work.
  • retain the best talent available from the widest possible pool of the workforce
  • encourage our staff to take part in activities that develop them, widen their understanding of the problems faced by some sections of the population and thereby demonstrate our commitment to improving services for customers and communities in ways that reinforce our core values and objectives

Reporting on Corporate Responsibility

In common with all Government Departments we produce an Annual Spring Report. In 2007 we will produce our first CR review, as an addendum to the Departmental Report.

Our performance in protecting the environment is monitored on an annual basis by the Sustainable Development Commission (SDC). The SDC is the Governments independent advisory body and watchdog for sustainable development, which assesses the performance of central Government departments against the targets for Sustainable Operations on the Government Estate.