Dame Clare Moriarty DCB (born 6 April 1963) is the Chief Executive of Citizens Advice and former British civil servant, who served as Permanent Secretary of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs between 2015 and 2019 and as Permanent Secretary of the

Department for Exiting the European Union The Department for Exiting the European Union (DExEU; also known as the Department for Brexit or Brexit Department) was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for overseeing negotiations relating to Brexit, and establi ...

(DExEU) from March 2019 until January 2020. In November 2017, she was appointed the first civil service “faith and belief” champion, to represent all faiths and beliefs and promote interfaith dialogue. After leaving the Civil Service when DExEU was closed, she took up a new role as chief executive of

Citizens Advice Citizens AdviceCitizens Advice is the operating name of The National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux which is the umbrella charity for a wider network of local advice centres. The abbreviation CitA is sometimes used to refer to this nation ...

in April 2021.

Early life and education

Moriarty was born on 6 April 1963. She is the daughter of Michael John Moriarty, a career civil servant. She was educated at

North London Collegiate School North London Collegiate School (NLCS) is an independent school with a day school for girls in England. Founded in Camden Town, it is now located in Edgware, in the London Borough of Harrow. Associate schools are located in South Korea, Jeju I ...

, an all-girls independent school in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. She studied mathematics at Balliol College, Oxford, graduating with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

(BA) degree in 1985.

Career

Moriarty held roles in 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 ...

, the

Ministry of Justice A Ministry of Justice is a common type of government department that serves as a justice ministry. Lists of current ministries of justice Named "Ministry" * Ministry of Justice (Abkhazia) * Ministry of Justice (Afghanistan) * Ministry of Just ...

, Department for Transport (DfT) and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). At the DfT, she was Director General Corporate Group and, from January 2013, Director General for Rail. She was appointed Permanent Secretary for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in August 2015. As of 2015, Moriarty was paid a salary of between £160,000 and £164,999 by the department, making her one of the 328 most highly paid people in the British public sector at that time. Moriarty advocates the use of

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

by civil servants, and has written in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' how Twitter can be used in particular by senior female staff to be seen as more accessible. In March 2019, she left her role as Permanent Secretary at the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and became Permanent Secretary at the Department for Exiting the European Union, replacing

Philip Rycroft Philip John Rycroft (born 22 May 1961) is a British civil servant who served as the Permanent Secretary at the Department for Exiting the European Union from 2017 to 2019. Early life and education Rycroft was born on 22 May 1961. He was edu ...

. Following the departure of the United Kingdom from the EU at the end of January 2020 and the closure of the Department for Exiting the European Union, Moriarty left the civil service in March 2020. She took up a role as chief executive of Citizens Advice in April 2021.

Honours

Moriarty was appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in the

2016 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2016 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebratio ...

, and

Dame 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 ...

(DCB) in the

2020 Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours for 2020 are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Moriarty, Clare Living people British civil servants Permanent Under-Secretaries of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Dames Commander of the Order of the Bath 1963 births People educated at North London Collegiate School Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford