Chairman Sir Simon Jenkins Preceded by Sir Brian Bender Preceded by Dame Fiona Reynolds Name Helen Ghosh | Secretary of State Theresa May Role Civil servant Preceded by Sir David Normington Spouse Peter Ghosh | |
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Secretary of State Margaret Beckett
David Miliband
Hilary Benn
Caroline Spelman Education University of Oxford, Hertford College, Oxford, St Hugh's College, Oxford | ||
Inspiring women dame helen ghosh
Dame Helen Frances Ghosh, DCB (born 21 February 1956) is Director General of the National Trust. She was formerly a British civil servant, and until November 2012 was Permanent Secretary of the Home Office, having moved from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) at the end of 2010. At the time of her appointment at Defra, she was the only female permanent secretary to head a major department of the British Government. Starting in April 2018, she will be the Master of Balliol College, Oxford.
Contents
- Inspiring women dame helen ghosh
- Dame helen ghosh at the 2014 ashden awards
- Personal life
- Career
- Non executive positions
- References
Dame helen ghosh at the 2014 ashden awards
Personal life
Ghosh was born in Farnborough, Hampshire in 1956, to a civil service scientist and a librarian. She was educated at Farnborough Hill, an all-girls independent Catholic school. She studied modern history at St Hugh's College, Oxford, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1976. She then undertook postgraduate study at Hertford College, Oxford, graduating with a Master of Letters (MLitt) in 1980; her thesis concerned the history of Italy in the 6th century.
She is married with one daughter and one son; her husband Peter Ghosh is a tutor in modern history at St Anne's College, Oxford.
She was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the Bath (DCB) in the Queen's Birthday Honours list in June 2008. In 2010, The Tablet named her as one of Britain’s most influential Roman Catholics.
Career
Ghosh joined the Department of the Environment in 1979 as an Administration Trainee and held a series of policy roles. She was appointed Private Secretary to the Minister for Environment and Housing in 1986–88 and Head of the Housing Policy and Home Ownership Team in 1992. In July 1995, she joined the Cabinet Office on loan as Deputy Director of the Efficiency Unit then moved to a more operationally focused role in 1997 in the Government Office for London, where she worked as Director for London East and European Programmes, which brought her into contact with a variety of EU bodies, in particular those administering regeneration funds.
Between May 1999 and November 1999, she was Head of the New Deal for Communities Programme at the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions, working on cross-cutting and delivery issues. She then joined the Department for Work and Pensions as Director of the Children's Group, which had responsibility for child benefit, child support, child poverty issues and the Tax Credit Programme.
She rejoined the Cabinet Office on 22 October 2001, as Head of Central Secretariat and, in 2003, became Director General for Corporate Services at HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), where she played an important part in the transformation programme merging the Inland Revenue and Customs & Excise to form the new department. She was appointed Permanent Secretary at Defra on 7 November 2005. She replaced Sir David Normington as Permanent Secretary at the Home Office in January 2011.
On 13 August 2012 it was announced that she would be stepping down from her role at the Home Office to become Director General at the National Trust. She took up the post on 12 November 2012.
From April 2018 Ghosh will be Master of Balliol College, Oxford in succession to Professor Sir Drummond Bone.
Non-executive positions
Ghosh is a former board member of the National School for Government, and a committee member and former chair of the Blackfriars Overseas Aid Trust, based in Oxford. She was elected a Rhodes Trustee in 2011.