The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has appointed Helen Edwards, a senior Ministry of Justice (MoJ) civil servant as its director-general for localism.
Edwards will succeed David Prout, who left the department to head up the High Speed 2 rail programme at the start of the year. Edwards, who was director-general for criminal justice at the MoJ, will also take on the role of deputy permanent secretary.
Originally trained as a social worker for East Sussex CC, Edwards enjoyed an 18-year career working with crime reduction charity Nacro, where she rose to become chief executive.
Since joining the civil service in 2002, Edwards has served as director-general of the Home Office’s communities group and was chief executive of the National Offender Management Service.