Melanie Dawes

Dame Melanie Henrietta Dawes DCB (born 9 March 1966) is a British economist and civil servant. Since February 2020 she has been Chief Executive of Ofcom. She was previously the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, and before that worked at HM Treasury, HM Revenue and Customs, and in the Cabinet Office. She is a Trustee of the Patchwork Foundation, founded by Harris Bokhari.

Dame
Melanie Dawes
DCB
Chief Executive of the Office of Communications
Assumed office
12 February 2020
Prime MinisterBoris Johnson
Liz Truss
Rishi Sunak
Preceded bySharon White
Personal details
Born
Melanie Henrietta Dawes

(1966-03-09) 9 March 1966
Spouse
​
(m. 1992)​
Children1 daughter
Alma materNew College, Oxford
Birkbeck, University of London
AwardsDame Commander of the Order of the Bath (2020)

Early life and education

Dawes was born on 9 March 1966. She was educated at Malvern Girls' College, then an all-girls private school in Malvern, Worcestershire. She studied at New College, Oxford, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree. She then undertook postgraduate studies in economics at Birkbeck College, London, graduating with a Master of Science (MSc) degree.[1]

Career

Dawes joined the Civil Service in 1989.[2] After two years at the Department for Transport, she spent 15 years at HM Treasury, ending her time there in the role of Europe Director from 2002 to 2006. Then, from 2006 to 2011, she worked at HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). She was Director General for Business Tax at HMRC from November 2007, replacing Dave Hartnett.[3] From October 2011 to 2015, she was Director General of the Economic and Domestic Secretariat in the Cabinet Office.[3][4][5]

In January 2015, Dawes was announced as the next Permanent Secretary of the Department for Communities and Local Government, succeeding Sir Bob Kerslake.[6] She was the first permanent secretary to be appointed under a new scheme in which the Prime Minister has the final say in the recruitment process; the PM now chooses directly from a list created by the Civil Service Commissioners, rather than only having a veto over the Commissioners' preferred candidate.[6][7] She took up the position on 1 March 2015.[3] As of 2015, Dawes was paid a salary of between £160,000 and £164,999 by DCLG, making her one of the 328 most highly paid people in the British public sector at that time.[8]

On 12 February 2020, Dawes was named as the new Chief Executive of broadcasting, telecoms and postal services regulator Ofcom.[9]

Other work

Dawes was Chair of the Alcohol Recovery Project from 2003 to 2005.[1] She was a Member of the Council of Which? between 2011 and 2015.[1] She was the Civil Service Gender Champion from 2015 to 2019, when she was appointed as the overall Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Champion. She was a judge for the 2015 Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Awards.[10] Dawes is a trustee of the Patchwork Foundation.[11]

Personal life

In 1992, Dawes married Benedict Brogan.[1] Together they have a daughter.[4][12][13]

Honours

Dawes was appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in the 2013 Birthday Honours for "services to the Civil Service in the field of Economic Policy"[14] and promoted to Dame Commander of the Order of the Bath (DCB) in the 2020 New Year Honours for public service.[15]

References
  1. 'DAWES, Melanie Henrietta', Who's Who 2017, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2017; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2016; online edn, Nov 2016 accessed 20 Oct 2017
  2. Atkinson, Mark; Elliott, Larry (9 November 1999). "Brown's mechanics behind the machinations of government". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  3. "Melanie Dawes CB". Government of the United Kingdom. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  4. "Women of the Year". 30 July 2012. Archived from the original on 17 November 2015. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  5. "New Head of Economic and Domestic Affairs Secretariat appointed – Announcements". Government of the United Kingdom. Retrieved 11 March 2016.
  6. "New Permanent Secretary for the Department for Communities and Local Government". Department for Communities and Local Government. 8 January 2015. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  7. "Lying in wait: who will be the permanent secretaries meeting the new ministers in 2015?". Institute for Government. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  8. "Senior officials 'high earners' salaries as at 30 September 2015 – Government of the United Kingdom". Government of the United Kingdom. 17 December 2015. Retrieved 9 March 2016.
  9. "Government Minded To Appoint Ofcom As Online Harms Regulator". Government of the United Kingdom. 12 February 2020. Retrieved 12 February 2020.
  10. "Judges". Diversity and Inclusion Awards. 2015. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  11. "Trustees". Patchwork Foundation. 16 October 2018. Retrieved 30 January 2019.
  12. Dawes, Melanie (16 March 2015). "International Women's Day – guest blog from Melanie Dawes". Civil Service Blog. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  13. "At Home with Lord Rothermere: Our Top Tax Man and the Non-Dom Press Baron". Private Eye. No. 1231. 6 March 2009. Dawes, a career Treasury civil servant said by some to have been drafted into HMRC to keep an eye on the taxmen, just happens to be married to Benedict Brogan
  14. "No. 60534". The London Gazette (Supplement). 15 June 2013. p. 2.
  15. "No. 62866". The London Gazette (Supplement). 28 December 2019. p. N3.

Offices held
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