Hannah Payne
Biography
Hannah joined the Scotland Office as Principal Private Secretary in September 2025, taking on additional responsibilities as Deputy Director for Strategy in April 2026. Hannah leads the Secretary of State’s Private Office and has oversight of the Ministerial, Special Advisor and Director’s Private Offices. Alongside this she manages the department’s correspondence, write-round and FOI functions, as well as leading the Strategy Team.
Prior to this, she spent most of her career in the Department for International Trade and later the Department for Business and Trade, working in a variety of private office, strategy, policy and events delivery roles. Hannah led part of the team that took the Coronavirus Act through Parliament in the Department of Health and Social Care at the start of the pandemic, and began her civil service career as a policy advisor in the Department for Exiting the European Union.
Hannah also previously worked in a legal publishers in the private sector. She is from Upminster, in Essex.
Principal Private Secretary and Deputy Director for Strategy
The Principal Private Secretary has responsibility for managing the Secretary of State’s Private Office.