Natalie Ceeney, CEO of HM Courts & Tribunals Service, has been named as Whitehall's first health and wellbeing champion.
Ceeney, who has served as head of the courts service since January last year, said the new role would see her focus on "creating a healthy and supportive environment for our people, particularly as we go through change", with a particular focus on mental health, musculoskeletal disorders and encouraging healthy lifestyles.
Writing on GOV.UK, she said: "I strongly believe that we all achieve our best when we can bring our whole self to work – and that when we work in an environment that supports us as people as well as employees, it has a positive impact on our physical health and mental well-being."
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Ceeney joins other senior officials who have taken on "champion" roles to help drive progress on the civil service's key priorities in recent months, with Department for Culture, Media and Sport permanent secretary Sue Owen serving as diversity champion and Department for Transport perm sec Philip Rutnam acting as champion for disability issues.
HMRC chief Jon Thompson also serves as social mobility champion, overseeing efforts to improve the civil service's recruitment of people from low-income backgrounds.
Ceeney's CV includes stints both inside and outside of the public sector, having served as chief executive of the National Archives for four years, as head of the Financial Ombudsman Service for three, and as head of UK customer standards from 2014 until her appointment to the courts service post in 2015.
In her new role, Ceeney will also sit on the civil service people People Board, a sub group of the civil service's highest corporate decision-making body, the Civil Service Board. The People Board brings together senior officials to focus specifically on workforce strategy and employee relations issues.