HMRC has named David Bunting as its interim general counsel and solicitor after the previous postholder, Gill Aitken, left to take up a new role as registrar at the University of Oxford
Bunting takes on the job as HMRC’s top lawyer at the beginning of next month, becoming director general of the solicitor’s office and legal services group and joining the department’s executive committee, reporting to chief executive Jon Thompson.
He is currently working in the cross-government border delivery group, which is focusing on the operational and practical impacts that EU exit may have on the UK’s border.
Bunting, who has more than 20 years’ legal experience, trained in the Inland Revenue and has worked extensively on tax matters, leading large HMRC legal teams dealing with tax policy and legislation.
He has also led HMRC’s litigation activity, overseeing about 10,000 cases at any one time involving billions in revenues. He was promoted into the senior civil service in 2008 and in 2012 became a legal director at HMRC, moving to the border delivery group in 2017.
HMRC said there will be an open recruitment process in the coming months to fill the role permanently.
Report by Pat Sweet
