Dame Janet Paraskeva (born 28 May 1946, Newport, Monmouthshire,

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

) is a British government official. She was appointed as the

First Civil Service Commissioner The First Civil Service Commissioner heads the Civil Service Commission, a statutory body which ensures that appointments to the Civil Service in the United Kingdom are made openly and on merit, and hears appeals from civil servants under the Civ ...

on 1 January 2006. On 15 November 2007 Paraskeva was announced by

Peter Hain Peter Gerald Hain, Baron Hain (born 16 February 1950), is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 2005 to 2007, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from 2007 to 2008 and twice as Secretary of State ...

, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, as first Chair of the

Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission The Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission was a non-departmental public body established to take responsibility for the child maintenance system in Great Britain. The Commission’s primary objective was to maximise the number of effecti ...

. Her appointment, which lasted four years, took effect on 19 November 2007. Paraskeva began her career as a science and mathematics teacher in 1967. After graduating from the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...

in 1983 with a social sciences degree, Paraskeva joined HM Inspector of Schools where she served until 1988. She has served as chief executive at the Law Society's Council and was Director for England of the National Lottery Charities Board as well as being the force being setting up and running the England operation, awarding more than £1.5bn to voluntary organisations. Paraskeva has also served as a magistrate and as a member of the

Youth Justice Board The Youth Justice Board ( cy, Bwrdd Cyfiawnder Ieuenctid), for England and Wales (YJB) is a non-departmental public body created by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 to oversee the youth justice system for England and Wales. It is sponsored by the ...

. She is affiliated with ChildLine, Ofsted and the British Youth Council. Since 2000, she has been a trustee of the civic group

Common Purpose The doctrine of common purpose, common design, joint enterprise, joint criminal enterprise or parasitic accessory liability is a common law legal doctrine that imputes criminal liability to the participants in a criminal enterprise for all reaso ...

. On 5 September 2005, she was appointed to the board of Britain's

Serious Organised Crime Agency The Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) was a non-departmental public body of the Government of the United Kingdom which existed from 1 April 2006 until 7 October 2013. SOCA was a national law enforcement agency with Home Office sponsorship ...

as a non-executive director. In February 2006, Olympics Minister

Tessa Jowell Tessa Jane Helen Douglas Jowell, Baroness Jowell, (; 18 September 1947 – 12 May 2018) was a British Labour Party politician and life peer who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Dulwich and West Norwood, previously Dulwich, from ...

appointed Janet Paraskeva as Chair of the new Olympic Lottery Distributor (OLD), and she served as Chair until the body was dissolved in March 2013. The OLD came into existence in July 2005, following London's success in being selected as the city to host the 2012 Summer Olympics. The body's key role was to ensure proper, timely and effective distribution of a £1.8 billion Lottery contribution and to fund the provision of facilities, services and functions required for the staging of the

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 ...

2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympic Games. On 6 July 2010, Prime Minister David Cameron announced that Paraskeva would be one of three members of an inquiry to determine whether British intelligence officers were complicit in the torture of detainees, including those from the Guantanamo Bay detention camp or subject to rendition flights. Paraskeva joined the Privy Council to permit easier access to secret information. Paraskeva has been a strong advocate for gay and lesbian rights in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. She has stated her intention, under the

Civil Partnership Act 2004 The Civil Partnership Act 2004 (c 33) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, introduced by the Labour government, which grants civil partnerships in the United Kingdom the rights and responsibilities very similar to those in civil ...

, to enter into a

civil partnership A civil union (also known as a civil partnership) is a legally recognized arrangement similar to marriage, created primarily as a means to provide recognition in law for same-sex couples. Civil unions grant some or all of the rights of marriage ...

with her partner of more than a decade, whom she will only refer to as 'Mary'. Paraskeva has two children from her first marriage. In 2006, Paraskeva, along with numerous other

Greek Cypriots Greek Cypriots or Cypriot Greeks ( el, Ελληνοκύπριοι, Ellinokýprioi, tr, Kıbrıs Rumları) are the ethnic Greek population of Cyprus, forming the island's largest ethnolinguistic community. According to the 2011 census, 659,115 ...

, was featured in a book by Kyriakos Tsiouprasbr>''It's all Greek to them''
focusing on Cypriots who have had substantial influence within their communities.

Awards & honours

* In 1978, she was awarded the Robert Schuman Silver Medal for European Unity. * Paraskeva was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2010 Birthday Honours.

References

External links

''The Guardian''Civil Service biographyCabinet Office releaseBiodata
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paraskeva, Janet 1946 births Living people Welsh people of Greek Cypriot descent British LGBT civil servants People from Newport, Wales Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom