Sir Robin Urquhart Young, KCB (born 7 September 1948) is a British retired

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 ...

. He was

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

Department for Culture, Media and Sport The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It holds the responsibility for Culture of the United Kingdom, culture a ...

from 1998 to 2001 and

for the Department of Trade & Industry from 2001 to 2005.

Personal life

Young was born in 1948, and educated at

Fettes College Fettes College () is a co-educational private boarding and day school in Craigleith, Edinburgh, Scotland, with over two-thirds of its pupils in residence on campus. The school was originally a boarding school for boys only and became co-ed in ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

and at

University College, Oxford University College, formally The Master and Fellows of the College of the Great Hall of the University commonly called University College in the University of Oxford and colloquially referred to as "Univ", is a Colleges of the University of Oxf ...

. He was appointed

Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by King George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. Recipients of the Order are usually senior British Armed Forces, military officers or senior Civil Service ...

(KCB) in the

2002 Queen's Birthday Honours Queen's Birthday Honours are announced on or around the date of the Queen's Official Birthday in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. The dates vary, both from year to year and from country to country. All are published in sup ...

Career

Young joined the

Department of Environment An environmental ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for the environment and/or natural resources. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of the Environment, ...

where he worked on housing, environment and local government policy, later becoming Principal Private Secretary to Ministers during the 1980s. From April 1994 to June 1997 he was First Director of the Government Office for London. Between July 1997 and May 1998, he was Head of Economic and Domestic Affairs Secretariat,

Cabinet Office The Cabinet Office is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for supporting the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, prime minister and Cabinet ...

. He was then

at the

. From June 2001 to March 2005, he was Permanent Secretary at the Department of Trade & Industry. After leaving the Civil Service in 2005, he went into business and was chairman at

Dr Foster Intelligence Dr Foster Intelligence is a provider of healthcare information in the United Kingdom, monitoring the performance of the National Health Service and providing information to the public. It was launched in February 2006 and is owned by Telstra. Dr F ...

, East of England International (EEI), Apex Communications, Circle Anglia, and A4e.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Young, Robin 1948 births Living people Permanent Under-Secretaries of State for Culture, Media and Sport Permanent Under-Secretaries of State for Trade and Industry Alumni of University College, Oxford Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Civil servants in the Department of the Environment Civil servants in the Cabinet Office Private secretaries in the British Civil Service People educated at Fettes College