Top new appointment at Health and Safety Executive

HSE Press Release: E102:04 26 July 2004

Jonathan Rees has been appointed as Deputy Director General of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). He will succeed Kate Timms who retires in September 2004. Jonathan will oversee the Policy Group; (another Deputy DG is responsible for operations).

He is currently Director, Consumer and Competition Policy, in the Department of Trade and Industry. He has considerable experience of regulation and working with industry and of collaboration with local authorities.

Previously he was Director, Modernising Public Services Group in the Cabinet Office and from 1994-7 was a member of the Prime Minister's Policy Unit. He has been seconded to the European Commission and worked in the UK Permanent Representation in Brussels.

Jonathan is married and has a son and a daughter. His interests are theatre, travel and sport.

Notes to editors

1. The HSE is the public body responsible for ensuring that workers and the public are protected from industrial harm. It is the operational arm of the Health and Safety Commission (HSC). HSE has 4,000 civil servants, of whom about 1,600 are inspectors and over 1,400 are professionals or other specialist staff. HSE's work touches virtually every employer and employee in Great Britain. Its budget last year was £281.9m.
   
   
2. Health and safety legislation imposes responsibilities on employers and employees,
   including a general duty of care on employers to take all reasonable and practicable care with relation to health and safety. The role of HSE is to ensure this happens through: inspecting workplaces to secure compliance; investigating accidents and complaints; taking enforcement action; providing advice to the HSC, the government, employers, workers and the public; and undertaking research.
   
   
3. The appointment was made following an open competition within the Civil Service.

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