David Williams | |
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Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Defence | |
Assumed office April 2021 | |
Sec. of State | Ben Wallace Grant Shapps John Healey |
Preceded by | Stephen Lovegrove |
Second Permanent Secretary at the Department of Health and Social Care | |
In office March 2020 –April 2021 | |
Prime Minister | Boris Johnson |
Sec. of State | Matt Hancock |
Preceded by | Office established [1] |
Succeeded by | Shona Dunn |
Personal details | |
Born | December 1968 56) | (age
Education | Corpus Christi College,Oxford |
Occupation | Civil servant |
David Peter Williams CB (born December 1968 [2] ) is a British civil servant who has served as the permanent under-secretary of state for defence since April 2021. [3]
From 2015,Williams served in various administrative positions in both the Department of Health and Social Care and the Ministry of Defence. In March 2020,at the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak in the United Kingdom,he was appointed second permanent secretary at the Department of Health and Social Care. [3]
In April 2021 he became the permanent under-secretary of state for defence,succeeding Stephen Lovegrove. [3] As Permanent Secretary his responsibilities include "the overall organisation,management and staffing of defence". He successfully oversaw a strategic defence review commissioned by the Labour government in 2024. In line with normal practice he will leave his current post after serving almost five years.
He is a policy leaders fellow at the University of Cambridge's Centre for Science and Policy. [4]
Williams was appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in the 2020 New Year Honours "for services to Government Finances." [4] [5]