Sir Christopher William Kelly,
KCB (born 18 August 1946) is a former senior
British Civil Servant who was the Chairman of the
Committee on Standards in Public Life
The Committee on Standards in Public Life (CSPL) is an advisory non-departmental public body of the United Kingdom Government, established by John Major in 1994 to advise the Prime Minister on ethical standards of public life. It promotes a code o ...
and Chairman of the
NSPCC
The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) is a British child protection charity.
History
Victorian era
On a trip to New York in 1881, Liverpudlian businessman Thomas Agnew was inspired by a visit to the New Yor ...
.
Early life
Born in
Bromley
Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 87,889 as of 2011.
Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, char ...
,
Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
, Kelly is the son of Dr. Reginald Kelly (1917–90), a former President of the
Association of British Neurologists
The Association of British Neurologists is a professional organisation founded in 1932 and expanded to include overseas membership in 1937. The Association produces guidelines for the treatment of neurological conditions.
Members
At 31 December ...
. He attended the independent
Beaumont College
Beaumont College was between 1861 and 1967 a public school in Old Windsor in Berkshire. Founded and run by the Society of Jesus, it offered a Roman Catholic public school education in rural surroundings, while lying, like the neighbouring Eton ...
. He studied Economics at
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...
and the
University of Manchester
, mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity
, established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...
.
Civil Service career
His first senior appointment in the
Civil Service
The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...
started when he was appointed Private Secretary to the
Financial Secretary in 1971, a post he held until 1973. From 1978 to 1980 he was Secretary to the Wilson Committee of Inquiry into Financial Institutions. He held various other appointments in the
Civil Service
The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...
, including Director of Fiscal & Monetary Policy (1994–95). He was the Head of Policy Group in the
Department of Social Security
The Department of Social Security (DSS) was a governmental agency in the United Kingdom from 1988 to 2001. The old abbreviation is still often used informally. Advertisements for rented accommodation used to describe prospective tenants who wou ...
from 1995 to 1997.
He was the
Permanent Secretary
A permanent secretary (also known as a principal 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 ...
to the
Department of Health
A health department or health ministry is a part of government which focuses on issues related to the general health of the citizenry. Subnational entities, such as states, counties and cities, often also operate a health department of their ow ...
from 1997 to 2000, while
Frank Dobson
Frank Gordon Dobson (15 March 1940 – 11 November 2019) was a British Labour Party politician. As Member of Parliament (MP) for Holborn and St. Pancras from 1979 to 2015, he served in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Health from 1997 ...
and later
Alan Milburn
Alan Milburn (born 27 January 1958) is a British Labour Party politician who was Member of Parliament (MP) for Darlington from 1992 to 2010. He served for five years in the Cabinet, first as Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 1998 to 1999, a ...
were the
Secretary of State.
Post Civil Service career
A report written by him, and published in July 2004, looked into the agencies which dealt with
Soham murderer Ian Huntley
The Soham murders were a double child murder committed in Soham, Cambridgeshire, England on 4 August 2002. The victims were two 10-year-old girls, Holly Marie Wells and Jessica Aimee Chapman, who were lured into the home of a local resident and ...
and why 'alarm bells' did not ring sooner that he should not be allowed to work with children.
Sir Christopher Kelly became the Chairman of the
NSPCC
The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) is a British child protection charity.
History
Victorian era
On a trip to New York in 1881, Liverpudlian businessman Thomas Agnew was inspired by a visit to the New Yor ...
in 2002, and in January 2005 became Chairman of the
Financial Ombudsman Service
The Financial Ombudsman Service is an ombudsman in the United Kingdom. It was established in 2000, and given statutory powers in 2001 by the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, to help settle disputes between consumers and UK-based bus ...
, serving until January 2012.
On 5 December 2007, Kelly was chosen by the
British Prime Minister
The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet and selects its ministers. As modern p ...
Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chance ...
to become the
Chairman
The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...
of the
Committee on Standards in Public Life
The Committee on Standards in Public Life (CSPL) is an advisory non-departmental public body of the United Kingdom Government, established by John Major in 1994 to advise the Prime Minister on ethical standards of public life. It promotes a code o ...
.
In October 2010 he was appointed chairman of the King's Fund.
In December 2012 he was appointed chairman of the
Responsible Gambling Strategy Board Responsibility may refer to:
* Collective responsibility
* Corporate social responsibility
* Duty
* Legal liability
* Legal obligation
* Legal responsibility (disambiguation)
* Media responsibility
* Moral responsibility, or personal responsibili ...
(RGSB), starting in April 2013.
He is a Non-executive member and chairs the Oversight Board of the Office of Budget Responsibility. He is a senior independent non-executive director on the board of the Co-op Group, chairing the board of the insurance group, and is a member of the Advisory Board to the Institute of Business Ethics.
Recognition
In 2001, he was created a
Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved Bathing#Medieval ...
.
Personal life
He married Alison Durant in 1970 in
St Marylebone
Marylebone (usually , also , ) is a district in the West End of London, in the City of Westminster. Oxford Street, Europe's busiest shopping street, forms its southern boundary.
An ancient parish and latterly a metropolitan borough, it merge ...
, and they have two sons and a daughter. He lives in north London.
References
External links
Appointment as Chairman of the Financial Ombudsman ServiceThe Kelly Review
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Christopher
1946 births
Living people
Permanent Under-Secretaries of State for Health
British civil servants
Civil servants in HM Treasury
Civil servants in the Department of Social Security
Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath
People from Bromley
Alumni of London Business School
Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge
Alumni of the University of Manchester
National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children people
Member of the Committee on Standards in Public Life