Sir Leigh Warren Lewis KCB (born 1951) is a retired senior British

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

, who served as the

Permanent Secretary A permanent secretary is the most senior Civil Service (United Kingdom), civil servant of a department or Ministry (government department), ministry charged with running the department or ministry's day-to-day activities. Permanent secretaries are ...

for the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

Department for Work and Pensions The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for welfare spending, welfare, pensions and child maintenance ...

from 2006 to 2011. Having graduated in

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

studies from

Liverpool University The University of Liverpool (abbreviated UOL) is a public research university in Liverpool, England. Founded in 1881 as University College Liverpool, Victoria University, it received Royal Charter by King Edward VII in 1903 attaining the de ...

, Lewis joined the then Department of Employment as an Administration Trainee in September 1973. He became Director of Operations for the Unemployment Benefit Service in 1986. On returning to the Department of Employment in 1991, he became Director of the International Division and later, in 1994, Director of Finance. He retained that post when the Department for Education and the Employment Department Group merged in July 1995. Lewis was appointed as Chief Executive of the Employment Service following an open competition in January 1997. In January 2001 he was appointed Chief Executive of

Jobcentre Plus Jobcentre Plus (; ) is a brand used by the Department for Work and Pensions in the United Kingdom. From 2002 to 2011, Jobcentre Plus was an executive agency which reported directly to the Minister of State for Employment. It was formed by th ...

, a new business of the

. From April 2002

brought together the Employment Service and those parts of the Benefits Agency which deal with customers of working age, into a single work focused organisation. In February 2003 Lewis was appointed to the

Home Office The Home Office (HO), also known (especially in official papers and when referred to in Parliament) as the Home Department, is the United Kingdom's interior ministry. It is responsible for public safety and policing, border security, immigr ...

for Crime, Policing, Counter-Terrorism and Delivery, but subsequently returned to DWP as

to DWP in late 2005 until his retirement in 2011. Upon which, he was installed as the new chair of the Coalition Government's Commission on a UK Bill of Rights. Lewis is the Chair of the London-based Homeless charity St Mungo's.

References

External links

Source at DWP
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Leigh 1951 births Alumni of the University of Liverpool Permanent Under-Secretaries of State for Work and Pensions Second Permanent Under-Secretaries of State for the Home Department Civil servants in the Department of Employment Civil servants in the Department for Education and Employment Living people Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath People educated at Harrow High School