Helen Edwards

Who is Helen Edwards?

Helen Edwards CB CBE is a British civil servant, currently serving as the Director-General for Localism in the Department for Communities and Local Government.

Having originally trained and worked as a social worker for East Sussex County Council, Edwards worked for the Save the Children Fund in the London Borough of Lambeth from 1980-83. She then spent 18 years working at Nacro, the national crime reduction charity, where she undertook a variety of roles, ending up as Chief Executive.

Edwards joined the Home Office in 2002 as Director of the Active Communities Directorate. From January 2004, she was promoted to the post of Director-General of the Communities Group where she was responsible for the Home Office's work on volunteering, the voluntary and community sector, race equality, faith, community cohesion and civil renewal. She took over as Chief Executive of National Offender Management Service on 10 November 2005, following the resignation of Martin Narey. During this period, NOMS transferred from the Home Office to the Ministry of Justice, as part of a government reorganisation.