Dame Valerie Patricia Marie Strachan, (née Nicholls; born 10 January 1940) is a retired British civil servant. From 1993 to 2000, she was Chair of

HM Customs and Excise HM Customs and Excise (properly known as Her Majesty's Customs and Excise at the time of its dissolution) was a department of the British Government formed in 1909 by the merger of HM Customs and HM Excise; its primary responsibility was t ...

. Since February 2012, she has been a member of the

Judicial Appointments Commission The Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) is an independent commission that selects candidates for judicial office in courts and tribunals in England and Wales and for some tribunals whose jurisdiction extends to Scotland or Northern Ireland. Sy ...

Early life and education

Strachan was born on 10 January 1940 to John Jonas Nicholls and Louise Nicholls. She was educated at Newland High School, an all-girls

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

secondary school in Hull, Yorkshire. She then studied politics at the

University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univ ...

, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree.

Career

As a junior civil servant, worked in a number of departments: she first joined

in 1961, then moved to the Department of Economic Affairs in 1964, and then worked at the Home Office in 1966. In 1966, she returned to HM Customs and Excise as a principal officer. She was appointed an Assistant Secretary in 1974 and a Commissioner in 1980. From 1985 to 1987, Strachan was on secondment as head of the Joint Management Unit between

HM Treasury His Majesty's Treasury (HM Treasury), occasionally referred to as the Exchequer, or more informally the Treasury, is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for developing and executing the government's public finance policy and ...

and the Cabinet Office. From 1987 to 1993, she was one of the Deputy Chairs of the Board of Excise and Customs. Then, from 1 March 1993 to 2000, she served as Chair of the Board of Excise and Customs and therefore as Head of HM Customs and Excise. Having retired from the Civil Service in 2000, Strachan has led an active retirement. From 2001 to 2002, she was a Lay Assessor on the Leggatt Inquiry, which led to the creation of the

Tribunals Service The Tribunals Service was an executive agency of the Ministry of Justice in the United Kingdom between April 2006 and March 2011. The Tribunals Service was responsible for: * Adjudicator for HM Land Registry *Asylum and Immigration Tribunal * Cl ...

. She was Vice Chair of the

Big Lottery Fund The National Lottery Community Fund, legally named the Big Lottery Fund, is a non-departmental public body responsible for distributing funds raised by the National Lottery for "good causes". Since 2004 it has awarded over £9 billion to ...

between 2004 and 2006. From 2006 to 2011, she was a member of the Rosemary Nelson Inquiry. From 2006 to 2012, she was a member of the Council of the

University of Southampton , mottoeng = The Heights Yield to Endeavour , type = Public research university , established = 1862 – Hartley Institution1902 – Hartley University College1913 – Southampton University Coll ...

. From February 2012 to July 2019, she was a member of the

Personal life

In 1965, Valerie Nicholls married John Strachan. Together, they have two children; one son and one daughter.

Honours

In the

1991 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1991 were appointments by Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by people of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. They were published on 28 December 1990 for the United Kingdom, N ...

, Strachan was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in recognition of her service as Deputy chairman of the board of HM Customs and Excise. In the

1998 Queen's Birthday Honours Queen's Birthday Honours are announced on or around the date of the Queen's Official Birthday in the United Kingdom and some Commonwealth countries. The dates vary, both from year to year and from country to country. All are published in suppleme ...

, she was promoted to

Dame Commander Commander ( it, Commendatore; french: Commandeur; german: Komtur; es, Comendador; pt, Comendador), or Knight Commander, is a title of honor prevalent in chivalric orders and fraternal orders. The title of Commander occurred in the medieval mil ...

of the Order of the Bath (DCB), and therefore granted the title ''Dame'', in recognition of her service as chairman of the board of HM Customs and Excise. In 1995, Strachan was awarded an honorary

Doctor of Laws A Doctor of Law is a degree in law. The application of the term varies from country to country and includes degrees such as the Doctor of Juridical Science (J.S.D. or S.J.D), Juris Doctor (J.D.), Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), and Legum Doctor ...

(LLD) degree by the

, her ''alma mater''. In July 2013, she was awarded an honorary degree by the

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Strachan, Valerie 1940 births Living people Alumni of the University of Manchester British civil servants Chairmen of the Board of HM Customs and Excise Civil servants in the Home Office Dames Commander of the Order of the Bath