David Bell (civil servant)

Sir David Robert Bell KCB is Permanent Secretary at the British Department for Education.^[1] He took up his post on 3 January 2006. He was previously Chief Inspector of Schools at the Office for Standards in Education. He had previously been Permanent Secretary at its predecessor departments, the Department for Children, Schools and Families and the Department for Education and Skills.

Bell studied history and philosophy at Glasgow University and obtained his PGCE from Jordanhill College of Education. He also has a Master of Education degree in management and administration from Glasgow University. Bell then held teaching posts at primary schools in Glasgow, moving on to become a deputy head, and then a headteacher at Kingston Primary School, in Thundersley, Essex. In 1990 he became assistant director of education at Newcastle City Council. During this time he spent a year as a Harkness Fellow at Georgia State University, Atlanta, studying education and local government reform across the United States of America. Bell trained as an Ofsted team inspector in 1993. He became a Registered Inspector in 1994 and carried out inspections in primary schools. He was promoted to director of education and libraries at Newcastle City Council in 1995 and became chief executive of Bedfordshire County Council in 2000. Mr Bell took up his post as Her Majesty's Chief Inspector on 1 May 2002.^[2] He was Chief Inspector for over three years and, in January 2006, he became Permanent Secretary at the Department for Education and Skills before becoming the first Permanent Secretary at the Department for Children, Schools and Families in June 2007 and its successor, the Department for Education in May 2010.^[1]

He was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in the 2011 Birthday Honours.^[3]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "DAVID BELL NAMED AS NEW PERMANENT SECRETARY AT DEPARTMENT FOR EDUCATION AND SKILLS". Department for Children, Schools and Families. http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/pns/DisplayPN.cgi?pn_id=2005_0160. Retrieved 14 August 2010. 
2. ^ "David Bell - Permanent Secretary, Department for Children, Schools and Families". UK Civil Service. http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/about/leadership/psmg/PSMG-bios/david-bell.aspx. Retrieved 14 August 2010. 
3. ^ London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 59808. p. 2. 11 June 2011.

Preceded by Sir Mike Tomlinson	Chief Inspector at Ofsted 2002-2006	Succeeded by Maurice Smith
Preceded by Sir David Normington	Permanent Secretary of the Department for Education and Skills 2006-2007	Succeeded by Himself As PUS, Department for Children, Schools and Families
Preceded by Himself As PUS, Department for Education and Skills	Permanent Secretary of the Department for Children, Schools and Families 2007-2010	Succeeded by Himself As PUS, Department for EducationFamilies
Preceded by Himself As PUS, Department for Children, Schools and Families	Permanent Secretary of the Department for Education 2010-	Succeeded by Incumbent

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Name	Bell, David
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