BEIS Chief Financial Officer

Tom Taylor

Biography

Tom Taylor is Director of Finance and Portfolio, and Chief Financial Officer, of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), which he joined in January 2017.

Tom joined the Civil Service in 1994, spending the early part of his career as an economist in the Department for Social Security. On promotion to the Senior Civil Service in 2001, Tom took on policy roles in the Department for Work and Pensions before moving to the Office of Climate Change and then Department for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs (Defra) in 2006. Tom was a Finance Director in Defra between 2009 and 2013, where he was a member of the departmental board. Between October 2013 and January 2017, Tom was Director of Corporate Operations in the Office of Rail and Road.

BEIS Chief Financial Officer

The main responsibilities of the Chief Financial Officer are to:

  • maintain a sound system of financial controls
  • support the department in achieving economy, efficiency and effectiveness in its delivery of ministers’ objectives
  • support the Accounting Officer in ensuring the regularity, propriety, and value for money of departmental expenditure
  • ensure that the department meets its financial reporting and accountability responsibilities to Parliament
  • attend meetings of the departmental board, chaired by the Secretary of State, and the executive committee, chaired by the Permanent Secretary

Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy

Previous roles in government

  • Finance Director