<p>The Welsh Revenue Authority</p>

Part of 1. 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government – in the Senedd at 2:12 pm on 15 February 2017.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 2:12, 15 February 2017

Well, I thank Nick Ramsay for that. I’m very anxious not to trespass on the territory of the Finance Committee, who I’m sure will want to explore just these issues with the particular candidate involved. If he’s asking me what I thought I was particularly looking for, then I felt it was really important to put some emphasis on attracting a candidate who would have a real enthusiasm for the work that needs to be done in establishing a new body. I think there are skills that people bring to a body that’s already in a steady state, and where your job is to make sure that it continues to run in an effective manner, and I think there might be slightly different set of experiences and enthusiasms for someone whose job it is to get a very important new Welsh institution up and established. When I was with Revenue Scotland yesterday, Llywydd, I met the chief executive and the chair of the authority, and they said to me, ‘Whatever plan you have at the start of the Welsh Revenue Authority, you have to face the fact that you will be changing that plan regularly during the first year because experience and anticipation will not be the same.’ You need somebody, therefore, who is sufficiently fleet of foot and attuned to that to make a success of the job. I hope that the candidate the Finance Committee will hear from tomorrow will meet that bill, and I look forward to seeing what the Finance Committee has to say as a result of its scrutiny.