Dame Lesley Ann Strathie, DCB (née Cooke; 24 September 1955 – 14 January 2012) was a British senior civil servant. Lesley Ann Cooke was born in Stranraer,

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

in 1955. She married David Strathie in 1974; the couple divorced in 1996). They had two children: a son (who predeceased his parents) and a daughter. Lesley Strathie was educated at Stranraer Academy and began her civil service career at age 16 at

's then-

Department of Health and Social Security The Department of Health and Social Security (commonly known as the DHSS) was a ministry of the British government in existence for twenty years from 1968 until 1988, and was headed by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Services. Hi ...

, before moving to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

in 1984. She was named

Chief Operating Officer A chief operating officer or chief operations officer, also called a COO, is one of the highest-ranking executive positions in an organization, composing part of the " C-suite". The COO is usually the second-in-command at the firm, especially if ...

Jobcentre Plus Jobcentre Plus ( cy, Canolfan byd Gwaith; gd, Ionad Obrach is Eile) is a brand used by the Department for Work and Pensions in the United Kingdom. From 2002 to 2011, Jobcentre Plus was an executive agency which reported directly to the Mini ...

in 2003, and succeeded David Anderson as Acting Chief Executive on 16 May 2005 before being confirmed on 13 October; this appointment also made her the Second Permanent Secretary to the

Department for Work and Pensions , type = Department , seal = , logo = Department for Work and Pensions logo.svg , logo_width = 166px , formed = , preceding1 = , jurisdiction = Government of the United Kingdom , headquarters = Caxton House7th Floor6–12 Tothill Stree ...

. In November 2008 she was appointed

Chief Executive A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

and Permanent Secretary of

HM Revenue and Customs , patch = , patchcaption = , logo = HM Revenue & Customs.svg , logocaption = , badge = , badgecaption = , flag = , flagcaption = , image_size = , co ...

(HMRC), succeeding

Dave Hartnett David Anthony Hartnett CB (born ) is a former British civil servant who served as the Permanent Secretary for Tax at HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) until his retirement in July 2012. Following his retirement he advised HSBC on financial crime g ...

who had worked as Acting Chief Executive and Chairman after the resignation of Paul Gray. Under instructions from ministers, she decreased HMRC staff by thousands and closed hundreds of tax offices leading to complaints that this resulted in worse service to taxpayers. Numerous critical reports by Parliament's Public Accounts Committee were issued. On 10 June 2010, Strathie appeared on the

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

flagship consumer programme ''Watchdog'' as a result of complaints against HMRC, mainly about the high level of mistakes.

Illness and death

Strathie stood down as Chief Executive from HMRC on 9 November 2011 to concentrate on her battle against what proved to be terminal cancer. She died on 14 January 2012, aged 56.

Honours

On 12 June 2010 she was appointed

Dame Commander of the Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved Bathing#Medieval ...

(DCB) in the 2010 Birthday Honours.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Strathie, Lesley 2012 deaths 1955 births Chief operating officers British chief executives Chief Executives of HM Revenue and Customs Civil servants in the Scottish Office Deaths from cancer in the United Kingdom Dames Commander of the Order of the Bath People educated at Stranraer Academy Place of death missing People from Stranraer Second Permanent Under-Secretaries of State for Work and Pensions Women chief executives