DCMS announces new permanent secretary
Sarah Healey, who formerly worked on Brexit preparations, replaces Dame Sue Owen
The Department for Digital Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has announced the appointment of Sarah Healy as its new permanent secretary.
Healey, who is currently the director general of the economic and domestic secretariat in the Cabinet Office, replaces Dame Sue Owen, who will retire after six years in the role.
She has previous experience of the DCMS, having served as director general between 2013 and 2016, and has also held high-level positions in other UK government departments including the Department for Exiting the EU.
Indeed, culture secretary Jeremy Wright cited Healey’s experience working in this department as being invaluable to DCMS, adding that she will “make an outstanding contribution to the department”.
Paying tribute to the departing Owen, Wright said she “has made the department a more resilient, inclusive and ambitious place, with an expanded remit at the heart of 21st century government.”
Speaking about returning to DCMS, Healey said that the department had grown and has continued to become “better and better” over the last two years.
Sarah Healey said that Owen would be “a tough act to follow” but she looked forward to “working with Ministers and the team on the important challenges DCMS and its extended family have in shaping the future of the country.”