Susan Acland-Hood has been the Permanent Secretary at the Department for Education since September 2020. Susan’s previous roles in government include Chief Executive at HM Courts and Tribunals Service; Director of Enterprise and Growth at HM Treasury; Director of Education and Funding at the Department for Education; Policy Advisor on home affairs and justice, and then education policy at Number 10; and Head of Strategy at the Home Office. She has also held senior roles in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and in the Social Exclusion Unit. Her civil service career began in 1999 at the Department for Education and Employment.