Tamara Finkelstein

Tamara Finkelstein was appointed Permanent Secretary at Defra on 19 June 2019. She was formerly Director General for EU Exit Delivery at Defra from April 2018 to March 2019. Before that, she was leading the Building Safety Programme in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

Much of her career has been at the HM Treasury where she started as an economist and worked on tax, macroeconomic policy and debt management. Roles included private secretary and speechwriter to the Chancellor, and leading on public services expenditure including health, education and housing.

She has worked in a number of other government departments on policy and delivery in health and children’s services including as Deputy Head of Sure Start, and as Director General for Community Care at the Department of Health and Social Care, with responsibility for social care and community services.

Her board experience includes roles on the boards of NS&I, the Debt Management Office and the UK Border Agency. She was Secretary to Lord Hutton’s Independent Public Service Pensions Commission.

She is senior sponsor of the Civil Service Jewish Network.