Deputy cabinet secretary Helen MacNamara is leaving the civil service, the Cabinet Office has announced.
MacNamara, who was the Cabinet Office’s ethics chief for two years before her role was expanded to deputy cab sec last March, will stand down in February.
She will take up a new role in the private sector later this year.
Cabinet secretary Simon Case said his deputy had been “instrumental in transforming the Cabinet Office over the last three years”.
He said he had worked with MacNamara in several roles over the last decade but added: “I am especially grateful for the personal support she has given to me in my role. She will be greatly missed and I hope that she may one day return to the civil service.”
Before joining the Cabinet Office in 2018, MacNamara spent two years as director general for housing and planning. In previous roles she led the Cabinet Office’s Economic and Domestic Secretariat, brokered agreement in the coalition government, coordinated preparations for the 2015 general election and led contingency preparations for the Greek Eurozone crisis.
The prime minister, Boris Johnson, said: “I would like to congratulate Helen on her tremendous public service over the last two decades. I am hugely grateful for her support during my time in office and I wish her all the best in her future endeavours.”
MacNamara said: “It’s been an absolute honour to have served as a civil servant over the last two decades.
“I am very grateful for the support I’ve had from the prime minister and the cabinet secretary and I wish them and all my friends and colleagues in public service every success for the future.”