Falconer welcomes new DCA Permanent Secretary
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs Lord Falconer has welcomed the appointment of a new Permanent Secretary at his Department, Alex Allen.
Mr Allen has worked with Lord Falconer before. He was the Government’s first e-envoy, responsible to the Cabinet Office, when Lord Falconer was a Cabinet Office Minister.
Lord Falconer declared, “I am delighted Alex Allan has been appointed to be my Permanent Secretary. This is a further step in the direction of the new Department. He brings with him great skills, formidable experience and an excellent reputation.
“I am looking forward to working with him to drive forward my Department’s ambitious programme of criminal justice delivery and constitutional reform.”
Mr Allen replaces the retiring Permanent Secretary, Sir Hayden Phillips, who has led the transformation of the Lord Chancellor’s Department into the new Department for Constitutional Affairs since the Government reorganisation of June 2003.
Lord Falconer added, “Hayden will be a hard act to follow, but I am confident that under Alex’s leadership the Department will go from strength to strength.”
The Permanent Secretary is the most senior civil servant in a Government department.
Mr Allen was previously Principal Private Secretary to the Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1986 to 1989, and Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister from 1992 to 1997.
He served as High Commissioner to Australia from 1997 to 1999, and returned to live in Perth after he left the post of e-envoy in 2000.
