Civil servant to lead new children’s directorate at DfES

Tom Jeffrey has been appointed as the first director general for
children and families at the Department for Education and Skills,
it was announced on Monday.

Jeffrey will lead the new directorate that was created when
responsibilities for children and families were transferred to the
Department for Education and Skills in June.

He will be responsible for advising Charles Clarke, the
secretary of state for education and Margaret Hodge, the minister
for children young people and families.

He will also be a key figure in achieving the government’s goal
of fully integrated children’s services and the proposals put
forward in the green paper on children.

Jeffrey will take up the post on 10 November.

His background includes previous jobs in the DfES on low
achievement, behaviour and attendance at school, special
educational needs, and extended schools.

Between 1998 and 2000 he was director of children’s services in
the Department of Health, leading the Quality Protects Programme
and and the NHS Plan Children’s Taskforce. He has also worked on
projects including Sure Start, and the social exclusion unit’s
reports on teenage pregnancy and education of children in care.