Bill is Permanent Secretary at the MINISTRY OF DEFENCE

Bill Jeffrey was born in 1948 and educated at Alan Glen's School in Glasgow and Glasgow University. He joined the Home Office in 1971 and in his early years in the Department served in a range of roles, including as Private Secretary to the Permanent Secretary from 1975 to 1976.

From 1988 to 1992 he headed the Prison Service's central personnel division, before moving to the Immigration and Nationality Directorate where he was Under Secretary responsible for operations and resources and Chief Inspector of the Immigration Service until 1994. He then moved to the Cabinet Office as Deputy Head of the Economic and Domestic Secretariat, responsible for co-ordinating government business on home and social affairs and for preparing and managing the Government's legislative programme. He oversaw the preparation of the first Queen's Speech and for the programme of constitutional changes after the 1997 General Election.

Between 1998 and 2002, Bill was Political Director at the Northern Ireland Office, advising the Prime Minister and successive Secretaries of State on the Northern Ireland political process. He was involved in the negotiation of the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement, and subsequent efforts to achieve the Agreement's implementation.

He returned to the Home Office as Director General of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate in September 2002, before becoming Security and Intelligence Co-ordinator and Permanent Secretary, Cabinet Office in April 2005. As part of this role he oversaw the Civil Contingencies Secretariat, the Intelligence and Security Secretariat and led interdepartmental work on counter-terrorism and crisis management.

Bill became Permanent Under Secretary of State at the Ministry of Defence on 21 November 2005. The Permanent Secretary is responsible for the effectiveness of all MOD's activities as a Department of State, senior civilian policy adviser to the Defence Secretary, Accounting Officer for all the Department's activities, Secretary to the Defence Council, and Chairman of the Defence Management Board, and has overall responsibility for the Civil Service within MOD.

Source: MOD
Updated: Dec 07