Latest civil service & public affairs moves — May 17

Government departments

• Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs – Lord Benyon appointed as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for Rural Affairs and Biosecurity), replacing Lord Gardiner. Sea Fish Industry Authority – Michael Sheldon appointed as Chair and Jeff Halliwell as Deputy Chair.
• Department for Health and Social Care – Thomas Waite appointed as Deputy Chief Medical Officer for England on an interim basis for the next year.
• Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy – Vikas Shah and Stephen Hill appointed as non-executive board members.
• Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office – Simon Boyden has been appointed British High Commissioner to the Kingdom of Eswatini in succession to John Lindfield. Lisa Chesney has been appointed British High Commissioner to the Republic of Sierra Leone in succession to Simon Mustard.
• Home Office: Migration Advisory Committee – Dina Kiwan and Sergi Pardos-Prado have been appointed as members. Independent Office for Police Conduct – Julia Mulligan replaced Geoffrey Podger as Senior Independent Director.
• Ministry of Justice: Independent Monitoring Boards – Anne Owers had her tenure as National Chair extended for a year. Lay Observers' National Council – John Thornhill had his tenure as Chair extended until June 2022.
• Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport: Treasure Valuation Committee – Christopher Martin reappointed as a member for five years. Royal Parks – Heather Blackman, Bronwyn Hill and Wesley Kerr reappointed as trustees.
• Department for Work and Pensions: The Pensions Regulator – Sarah Smart appointed as Chair, having been in the role on an interim basis.

Houses of Parliament

House of Lords

• Lord Gardiner elected as senior deputy speaker (chairman of committees).
• Lord Selsdon (Conservative, hereditary peer) and Lord Rogers of Riverside (Labour, life peer) ceased to be members of the House of Lords from 11th May due to non-attendance.
• Lord Stevenson of Coddenham (Crossbench, life peer) granted leave of absence on 11th May.

House of Commons

• Anum Qaisar-Javed was elected as the new Scottish National Party MP for Airdrie and Shotts.
• Tracy Brabin stood down as Labour MP for Batley and Spen, a by-election will take place in due course.

Political parties

Scottish Conservatives

• Stephen Kerr appointed as Holyrood Chief Whip.

Westminster Labour Party

• Kate Hollern resigned as Shadow Minister for Local Government.
• Carolyn Harris resigned as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Keir Starmer.
• Khalid Mahmood resigned as Shadow Minister for Defence Procurement.
• Nick Brown is no longer Shadow Chief Whip.
• Angela Rayner appointed as Deputy Leader, Shadow First Secretary of State, Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Shadow Secretary of State for the Future of Work (formerly Deputy Leader, National Campaign Co-ordinator and Chair, Labour Party; Shadow First Secretary of State).
• Anneliese Dodds appointed as Party Chair and Chair of Labour Policy Review (formerly Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer).
• Shabana Mahmood appointed as National Campaign Coordinator.
• Alan Campbell appointed as Shadow Chief Whip (formerly Opposition Deputy Chief Whip).
• Rachel Reeves appointed as Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer (formerly Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster).
• Lucy Powell appointed as Shadow Secretary of State for Housing (formerly Shadow Minister for Business and Consumers).
• Thangam Debbonaire appointed as Shadow Leader of the House of Commons (formerly Shadow Secretary of State for Housing).
• Wes Streeting appointed as Shadow Secretary of State for Child Poverty (formerly Shadow Minister for Schools).

Westminster Scottish National Party

• Owen Thompson named as the SNP Chief Whip having been in the role on an acting basis.

Devolved authorities

Welsh Government

• Mick Antoniw appointed as Counsel General designate and Minister for the Constitution.
• Rebecca Evans appointed as Minister for Finance and Local Government (formerly Minister for Finance and Trefnydd).
• Vaughan Gething appointed as Minister for Economy (formerly Minister for Health and Social Services).
• Dawn Bowden appointed as Deputy Minister for Arts and Sport and Chief Whip.
• Lesley Griffiths appointed as Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd (formerly Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs).
• Jane Hutt appointed as Minister for Social Justice (formerly Deputy Minister and Chief Whip).
• Hannah Blythyn appointed as Deputy Minister for Social Partnership (formerly Deputy Minister for Housing and Local Government).
• Julie James appointed as Minister for Climate Change (formerly Minister for Housing and Local Government).
• Lee Waters appointed as Deputy Minister for Climate Change (formerly Deputy Minister for Economy and Transport).
• Jeremy Miles appointed as Minister for Education and the Welsh Language (formerly Counsel General and Minister for European Transition).
• Eluned Morgan appointed as Minister for Health and Social Services (formerly Minister for Mental Health, Wellbeing and Welsh Language).
• Julie Morgan appointed as Deputy Minister for Social Services (formerly Deputy Minister for Health and Social Services).
• Lynne Neagle appointed as Deputy Minister for Mental Health and Wellbeing.
• Ken Skates is no longer Minister for Economy, Transport and North Wales.

Scottish Parliament

• Alison Johnstone (formerly Green Party) elected as Presiding Officer.

Greater London Assembly

• Ali Picton appointed as Mayoral Director for Operations, Sarah Brown as Mayoral Director for Communications and Felicity Appleby as Mayoral Director for Political and Public Affairs.
• Andrew Boff elected as Assembly Chair and Keith Prince as Deputy.

Labour group

• Len Duvall to be Spokesperson for GLA Oversight, Budget and Performance and Audit.
• Unmesh Desai to continue as Spokesperson for Police and Crime.
• Elly Baker to be Spokesperson for Transport.
• Anne Clarke to be Spokesperson for Fire, Resilience and Emergency Planning.
• Marina Ahmad to be Spokesperson for Economy.
• Sem Moema to be Spokesperson for Housing.
• Leonie Cooper to be Spokesperson for Environment (formerly Spokesperson on Environment and Economy).
• Onkar Sahota to continue as Spokesperson for Health.
• Sakina Sheikh to be Spokesperson for Planning and Regeneration.
• Audit Panel – Susan Hall named as Chair.
• Budget and Performance Committee – Susan Hall named as Chair.
• Economy Committee – Shaun Bailey named as Chair.
• Environment Committee – Zach Polanski named as Chair.
• Fire, Resilience and Emergency Planning Committee – Susan Hall named as Chair.
• GLA Oversight Committee – Caroline Pidgeon named as Chair.
• Health Committee – Caroline Russell named as Chair.
• Housing Committee – Sian Berry named as Chair.
• Police and Crime Committee – Shaun Bailey named as Chair.
• Planning and Regeneration Committee – Andrew Boff named as Chair.
• Transport Committee – Caroline Pidgeon named as Chair.

Welsh Parliament

• Elin Jones re-elected as Presiding Officer and David Rees elected as Deputy Presiding Officer.

Local authorities

• Lichfield District Council – Simon Fletcher named as the new Chief Executive, while Tony McGovern will take the role on an interim basis before Fletcher begins.
• South Somerset District Council – Clare Pestell to replace Alex Parmley as Chief Executive on 7th June.

Industry

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Interest groups

• Entrepreneurial Scotland Foundation – Sean McGrath replaced Sandy Kennedy as Chief Executive.
• Islamic Relief Worldwide – Waseem Ahmad promoted to become Chief Executive.

Corporates

• Travelodge – Craig Bonnar appointed as Chief Executive, having been in the role on an interim basis.