Peter Hugh Gordon Schofield, CB (born 27 April 1969) is a senior

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

civil servant 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 ...

, serving as

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 ...

for the

Department for Work and Pensions , type = Department , seal = , logo = Department for Work and Pensions logo.svg , logo_width = 166px , formed = , preceding1 = , jurisdiction = Government of the United Kingdom , headquarters = Caxton House7th Floor6–12 Tothill Stree ...

since January 2018. Born in 1969, Schofield was educated at the

Whitgift School ("He who perseveres, conquers") , established = , closed = , type = Independent school , religious_affiliation = Church of England , president = , head_label = Head Master , head = Christopher Ramsey , c ...

and then

Gonville and Caius Gonville and Caius College, often referred to simply as Caius ( ), is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348, it is the fourth-oldest of the University ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

, and then joined the civil service into

HM Treasury His Majesty's Treasury (HM Treasury), occasionally referred to as the Exchequer, or more informally the Treasury, is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for developing and executing the government's public finance policy and ec ...

in 1991. Schofield spent two years on secondment to 3i in 2002–2004, then returned to the civil service in the

Shareholder Executive The Shareholder Executive (ShEx) was a body within the UK Government responsible for managing the government's financial interest in a range of government-owned corporation, state-owned businesses for commercial rather than political interests. I ...

. In 2008, Schofield was promoted and moved to be the director of the Enterprise and Growth Unit in the Treasury, whilst retaining ''ex officio'' membership of ShEx's board. In 2012, Schofield was promoted again to be a director-general, heading the Neighbourhoods Group of

Department of Communities and Local Government The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), formerly the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for housing, communities, local government in ...

for four years. Then he transferred to the

in 2016 as director-general for finance. In January 2018, he succeeded Sir Robert Devereux as the department's permanent secretary. Schofield was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in the Queen's Birthday Honours for 2017.

References

External links

Schofield's entry on the Companies House register

Schofield's entry on GOV.UK
1969 births Living people Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Companions of the Order of the Bath Permanent Under-Secretaries of State for Work and Pensions {{UK-gov-bio-stub