Gillian Elizabeth Aitken, CB is a British lawyer, civil servant and university administrator. Since 2018, she has been Registrar of the University of Oxford.
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Career
Education and early career
Aitken graduated from St Hugh's College, Oxford, in 1982.[1] She worked for McKenna & Co from 1986 to 1993[2] and was admitted a solicitor in December 1988.[3] She left the private sector to join the Government Legal Service in 1993.[2]
Senior civil servant
Aitken worked in the Department of Health (where she worked on NHS Foundation Trusts) until 2004,[2] when she was appointed Director of Legal Services at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).[1] In March 2007, she was appointed Solicitor and Director-General for Legal Services in DEFRA, succeeding Donald Macrae.[4] In 2009 she became the department's Director-General for Law and Corporate Services.[1] In March 2010, she moved to the Department for Work and Pensions to be Director-General, Legal,[5] a role which was expanded in October 2011 as Director-General, Professional Services.[6] In February 2014, she was appointed General Counsel and Solicitor to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC),[7] and remained in the role until July 2018.[8]
At HMRC, Aitken headed a team of 180 lawyers and 350 employees which was noted in The Lawyer for having an 80% success rate at trial and adding £20bn to the government's tax income in 2014;[2] it reported that she was responsible for "implementing accurate risk-predictions for ministers, which allow in-house lawyers to use precedent as a type of barometer to determine the percentage outcome of specific claims."[9]
University administrator
Aitken left HMRC when she was appointed Registrar of the University of Oxford,[10] and in the capacity is "head of the central administrative services", with responsibility for the university's administrative services and governance.[11] She was also elected to a fellowship at St Hugh's College, Oxford.[12]
Honours and awards
In the 2019 New Year Honours, Aitken was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB), "for services to taxpayers and to social mobility".[13]
References
- ^ a b c "Aitken, Gill", Who's Who (online ed., Oxford University Press, December 2018). Retrieved 22 August 2019.
- ^ a b c d Natasha Bernal, "In-house interview: HMRC general counsel Gill Aitken", The Lawyer, 24 November 2014.
- ^ "Gillian Elizabeth Aitken", The Law Society of England and Wales. Retrieved 22 August 2019.
- ^ Department for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs: Resource Accounts 2006–2007 (2007), p. 23.
- ^ Department for Work and Pensions Resource Accounts 2009–10 (House of Commons Papers, 2010, HC 296), p. 29.
- ^ Department for Work and Pensions Annual Report 2011–12 (2012), p. 47
- ^ Natasha Bernal, "She used to sue the Government. Now she leads the legal team at HMRC. Gill Aitken on adding value in-house", The Lawyer, 22 October 2014. Retrieved 22 August 2019.
- ^ Natasha Bernal, "HMRC's top lawyer Gill Aitken exits after four years", The Lawyer, 5 June 2018. Retrieved 22 August 2019.
- ^ "Gill Aitken, HMRC's expert number cruncher", The Lawyer, 27 November 2014.
- ^ Jim Dunton, "HMRC loses top lawyer to Oxford University", Civil Service World, 4 June 2018. Retrieved 22 August 2019.
- ^ "Registrar and other Officials". Statutes and Regulations of the University of Oxford. University of Oxford. 28 September 2009. Retrieved 29 July 2010.
- ^ "Gill Aitken CB", St Hugh's College, Oxford and is an Honorary member of the University's Law Faculty. Retrieved 22 August 2019.
- ^ "Gillian Aitken", The London Gazette, notice 3175873 (28 December 2018).
This page was last edited on 13 April 2024, at 22:44