Transparency data

DWP register of board members’ interests Apr 2025 to Mar 2026

Published 9 July 2026

All of our employees are bound by the Civil Service Code – the framework on which the Department’s standards of behaviour are built. The consequences of failing to comply are serious and attract penalties up to and including dismissal. The Department’s Standards of Behaviour Policy and Procedures apply to employees at all grades.

It is mandated in the Department’s internally published Standards of Behaviour Procedures that employees’ interests and activities outside of work must not create conflict of interest or potential for perceived conflict of interest with their official role and they must not bring the Department into disrepute. Our employees are specifically instructed in the Standards of Behaviour Procedures never to request special treatment from any client of the Department that would benefit their outside interests. Our employees are also specifically required to consult their line manager and seek permission if they are proposing to take up a second occupation or any position with a non-political organisation (political activity is controlled under separate rules) if it could create a conflict of interests, or appear to create a conflict of interests. Further, our employees must seek their manager’s written permission to take up any non-executive directorship during their employment with the Department.

In addition to the Department’s standing requirement for all staff to discuss potential conflicts with their manager before taking up an external appointment, our Senior Civil Servants and non-executive members are required to declare any interests which they hold to the Permanent Secretary on an annual basis. The information has been gathered during the year and has been reviewed by the Permanent Secretary. The returns were also scrutinised by our Departmental Audit and Risk Assurance Committee.

At the beginning of every Departmental Board meeting, all members are asked to declare any new potential conflicts of interest. These are noted in the minutes along with the appropriate action taken to manage them. Where a board member declares a potential conflict at a meeting, it is recorded in the minutes and the board member takes no part in any discussions relating to that matter. There was only one conflict of interest registered during board meetings in 2025 to 2026

None of our ministers held directorships that conflicted with their management responsibilities in 2025 to 2026.

We have put in place a legal agreement with Charlie Steel that define the protocols and principles to be followed to identify, prevent, mitigate and remedy any conflict of interest or unfair advantage (whether actual, potential or perceived) that could arise as a result of Charlie’s position on the Department’s non-executive board.

In addition, in line with the current Declaration of Interest policy for special advisers, all special advisers have declared any relevant interest or confirmed they do not consider they have any relevant interests. The Permanent Secretary has considered these returns and relevant interests are set out in public.

A comprehensive list of directors and non-executive board members’ interests as of 31 March 2026 is shown below.

Ministers

Name	Name of company or organisation	Position Held	Type of Interest (e.g. pay, fees, shareholding)	Other relevant information
Rt Hon Pat McFadden MP	Bilston Town FC	Hon President, Member and shareholder	-	-
Rt Hon Pat McFadden MP	-	-	-	Partner - Labour Party Assistant General Secretary
Rt Hon Dame Diana Johnson MP	The Haemophilia Society	Patron	Unpaid	-
Rt Hon Dame Diana Johnson MP	National Civilian WW2 Memorial Trust, Hull	Patron	Unpaid	-
Rt Hon Dame Diana Johnson MP	RSPCA, Hull and East Riding	Patron	Unpaid	-
Rt Hon Dame Diana Johnson MP	Hull and East Riding Breast Care Friends	Patron	Unpaid	-
Rt Hon Dame Diana Johnson MP	-	-	-	Two family members are civil servants
Rt Hon Baroness Smith of Malvern	Dalgety Ltd	Non-Executive Director	Paid	Resigned 6 July 2024
Rt Hon Baroness Smith of Malvern	Barts Health NHS Trust	Chair	Paid	Resigned 6 July 2024
Rt Hon Baroness Smith of Malvern	Barking, Havering and Redbridge University NHS Trust	Chair	Paid	Resigned 6 July 2024
Rt Hon Baroness Smith of Malvern	Sandwell Childrens Trust	Chair	Paid by the Department for Education	Resigned 6 July 2024
Rt Hon Baroness Smith of Malvern	Kings Fund Health Think Tank	Chair	-	Resigned 6 July 2024
Rt Hon Baroness Smith of Malvern	Jo Cox Foundation	Trustee	-	Resigned 6 July 2024
Rt Hon Baroness Smith of Malvern	Precious Trust Charity	Chair	-	Closed August 2024
Rt Hon Baroness Smith of Malvern	Hertford College, University of Oxford	Honorary Fellow	-	-
Rt Hon Baroness Smith of Malvern	Jacqui Smith Advisory Limited	Director	-	Inactive
Rt Hon Baroness Smith of Malvern	-	-	-	Partner is a University Professor. Family member is a Teacher
Torsten Bell MP	Resolution Foundation	Chief Executive	Paid	Resigned July 2024
Torsten Bell MP	Guardian News & Media Limited	Columnist	Paid	Ended December 2024
Torsten Bell MP	-	-	-	Ministers spouse is a civil servant. There are plans in place to manage any conflicts of interest which may arise
Baroness Maeve Sherlock OBE	The Bible Society	Vice-President	Unpaid	-
Baroness Maeve Sherlock OBE	The Christian Enquiry Agency	Patron	Unpaid	-
Baroness Maeve Sherlock OBE	Church of England	Priest	Unpaid	-
Andrew Western MP	Local Government Association	Chair	Allowance	Resources Board. Resigned December 2022
Andrew Western MP	Trafford Council	Leader and Councillor	Allowance	Resigned January 2023
Andrew Western MP	L&Q Group	Non-executive director	Paid	Resigned March 2023
Sir Stephen Timms MP	Traidcraft Foundation	Trustee	Unpaid	-
Sir Stephen Timms MP	East 13 Christian Trust	Trustee	Unpaid	-
Sir Stephen Timms MP	Parliamentary Christinan Trust	Trustee	Unpaid	-
Sir Stephen Timms MP	Scouting in Newham	Vice-President	Unpaid	-
Sir Stephen Timms MP	All Saints Chorus, Newham	Patron	Unpaid	-
Sir Stephen Timms MP	Archbishop Janani Luwum Trust UK	Patron	Unpaid	-
Sir Stephen Timms MP	Bibi Foundation	Patron	Unpaid	-
Sir Stephen Timms MP	Dads ‘n’ Lads	Patron	Unpaid	-
Sir Stephen Timms MP	Drop In Bereavemnt Centre	Patron	Unpaid	-
Sir Stephen Timms MP	East London Children’s University	Patron	Unpaid	-
Sir Stephen Timms MP	Friends of the Diocese of Mbere, Kenya	Patron	Unpaid	-
Sir Stephen Timms MP	Greenhill Aphasia Group	Patron	Unpaid	-
Sir Stephen Timms MP	Islamic Circle Supplementary School	Patron	Unpaid	-
Sir Stephen Timms MP	Learning Revolution Trust	Patron	Unpaid	-
Sir Stephen Timms MP	Positive East	Patron	Unpaid	-
Sir Stephen Timms MP	Premier Christian Radio	Patron	Unpaid	-
Sir Stephen Timms MP	7th Newham Salaam Scouts	Patron	Unpaid	-
Sir Stephen Timms MP	Newham All Star Sports Association	Patron	Unpaid	-
Sir Stephen Timms MP	Newham Stroke Club	Patron	Unpaid	-
Sir Stephen Timms MP	Sree Narayana Guru Mission	Patron	Unpaid	-
Sir Stephen Timms MP	The Vine Trust	Patron	Unpaid	-
Sir Stephen Timms MP	Trinity Community Centre	Patron	Unpaid	-
Sir Stephen Timms MP	Your Place	Patron	Unpaid	-
Rt Hon Liz Kendall MP Left September 2025	-	-	-	-
Rt Hon Liz Kendall MP Left September 2025	-	-	-	(Partners Brother) Bowmark Capital (founder and managing partner)
Alison McGovern MP Left September 2025	-	-	-	Partner is a university professor involved with public policy and social policy research and is a member of the DWP Expert Advisory Group on Poverty Projections
Alison McGovern MP Left September 2025	Liverpool Football Club Foundation	Advisory Board	Unpaid	Resigned March 2025

Executives

Name	Name of company or organisation	Position Held	Type of Interest for example	Other relevant information
Sir Peter Schofield KCB	The Civil Service Benevolent Fund	Chair	Unpaid	-
Julie Blomley	The Brain Charity	Trustee	Unpaid	Resigned March 2024
Barbara Bennett	National Youth Agency	Chair	Unpaid	Resigned November 2022
Barbara Bennett	Whitehall & Industry Group (WIG)	Trustee	Unpaid	-
Barbara Bennett	London School of Economics	Visiting Senior Fellow	Unpaid	-
Catherine Vaughan CB	HM Treasury (HMT) Audit and Risk Committee	Independent Member	Unpaid	Measures in place to avoid any conflicts of interest
Craig Varian	Walsall Housing Group Limited (WHG)	Non-executive Director	Paid	-
Neil Couling CBE	-	-	-	Nil Return
Sophie Dean CB	-	-	-	Nil Return
Helen Wylie	-	-	-	Nil Return
Katherine Green CB	-	-	-	Nil Return
Nagesh Reddy	-	-	-	Nil Return
Debbie Alder CB Left December 2025	Kingston Hospital Foundation Trust	Senior Independent Director (Committee in Common)	Paid	-
Debbie Alder CB Left December 2025	Hounslow and Richmond Community Healthcare Trust	Non-executive Director	Paid	-
Debbie Alder CB Left December 2025	Movement to Work Charity	Steering Group member	Unpaid	From 2015 to September 2024
Debbie Alder CB Left December 2025	WIG	Trustee	Unpaid	Resigned December 2021
Debbie Alder CB Left December 2025	-	-	-	Partner deputy chair of SCOPE (Ended Dec 2025) and chair of Audit and Risk Committee & Trustee Guide Dogs for the Blind. There are plans in place to handle any conflicts of interest.
Amanda Reynolds Left April 2025	AOB Consultancy Ltd	Managing Director	Shareholding	This company has not traded since January 2021.
Katie Farrington Left June 2025	Refuge	Trustee	Unpaid	There were plans in place to handle any conflicts of interest (e.g. on housing benefit policy). Resigned March 2022
Katie Farrington Left June 2025	Volunteering Matters	Trustee	Unpaid	There were plans in place to handle any conflicts of interest (e.g. Volunteering Matters campaigning on govt policy).

Non-executives

Name	Name of company or organisation	Position Held	Type of Interest (e.g. pay, fees, shareholding)	Other relevant information
Ashley Machin	Lloyds Banking Group	-	Shareholding	-
Ashley Machin	Masthaven Bank (now known as Genclose Limited)	Chair	Paid	Contract ended December 2023
Ashley Machin	Wealth Wizards Ltd (employed by Royal London)	Director	Paid	Left February 2025
Ashley Machin	Age UK Digital	-	-	Former Advisor
Valerie Hughes-D’Aeth	BBC	Chief HR Officer	Paid	Resigned November 2019
Valerie Hughes-D’Aeth	CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development)	Chair	Unpaid	Resigned July 2025
Valerie Hughes-D’Aeth	VHD Consulting Ltd	Mentor & Consultant	Fees	Small amount of paid mentoring work
David Bennett	Ashmore Group plc	Chair	Fees	Resigned April 2022
David Bennett	Blemain Finance Ltd	Director	Fees	Resigned January 2019
David Bennett	McMillan Cancer Support	Chair	Unpaid	-
David Bennett	Clydesdale Bank PLC	Director	Fees	Resigned December 2025
David Bennett	David Bennett Advisory Ltd	Director	Paid	Resigned April 2020
David Bennett	M:QUBE	Advisor	Fees	-
David Bennett	Paypal (Europe) S.a.r.L et cie	Director	Fees	Resigned December 2024
David Bennett	PayPal Australia	Advisor	Pay	-
David Bennett	PayPal Digital Currency	Advisor	Pay	-
David Bennett	PayPal UK	Chair	Pay	-
David Bennett	Rugby School	Governor	Unpaid	Resigned June 2020
David Bennett	Spot Finance Ltd	Director	Fees	Resigned January 2019
David Bennett	Together123 Ltd	Director	Fees	Resigned January 2019
David Bennett	Together Personal Finance Ltd	Director	Fees	Resigned January 2019
David Bennett	Virgin Money Limited (Formerly Virgin Money PLC)	Director	Fees	Resigned May 2021
David Bennett	Virgin Money UK PLC	Chair	Paid	Resigned December 2025
David Bennett	Nationwide Building Society	Non-executive director	Fees	Resigned December 2025
David Bennett	Allfund Group	Chair	Paid	-
David Bennett	-	-	-	Partner is a Non-Executive Director for HMT - There were plans in place to handle any conflicts of interest - Resigned December 2025
Charlie Steel	IWG (International Working Group) PLC	Chief Financial Officer	Paid	There are plans in place to handle any conflicts of interest
Charlie Steel	IWG PLC	-	Shareholder	-
Charlie Steel	AICPA-CIMA (American Institute of Certified Public Accountants-The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants)	Non-Executive Director	Paid	-
Charlie Steel	Knok Healthcare	Board Advisor	Shareholder	-
Charlie Steel	Dr Connor Ltd	-	Shareholder	-
Charlie Steel	2 Manor Farm Cottages Ltd	Director	Paid	-
Charlie Steel	Friends of Varsity Trip Ltd	Director	Unpaid	-
Charlie Steel	Rollright Aviation Ltd	Director	Unpaid/Shareholder	-
Charlie Steel	VGM Advisors Ltd (formerly North Pole Laundry Services Ltd)	Director	Shareholder	-
Rev. Preb’d Prof Gina Radford	Health and Safety Executive	Non executive director	Paid	-
Rev. Preb’d Prof Gina Radford	Church of England	Reverend	Paid	-
Rev. Preb’d Prof Gina Radford	Plymouth Marjon University	Member of Audit and Governance Committee	Unpaid	Term of office completed in December 2022
Rev. Preb’d Prof Gina Radford	Human Tissue Authority	Non executive director	Paid	-
Rev. Preb’d Prof Gina Radford	Public Health England’s COVID non-Pharmaceutical Interventions Ethics Group 2020 - 2023	Chair	Unpaid	Disbanded early 2023
Rev. Preb’d Prof Gina Radford	National Police Chiefs’ Councils Independent	Member	Unpaid	-
Rev. Preb’d Prof Gina Radford	COVID Ethics Committee 2020 - 22	Member	Unpaid	Committee disbanded June 2023
Rev. Preb’d Prof Gina Radford	Devon Community Foundation	Trustee	Unpaid	-
Rev. Preb’d Prof Gina Radford	St Luke’s Foundation	Chair	Unpaid	-
Rev. Preb’d Prof Gina Radford	South Brent Feofees	Chair	Unpaid	-
Arabel Bailey	Accenture	Head of Innovation	Shareholder	-
Arabel Bailey	Accenture	Head of Innovation	Paid	Resigned September 2020
Arabel Bailey	Angel Investments	-	Shareholder	-
Arabel Bailey	Reckitt Benckiser	-	Shares	Disposed of May 2023
Arabel Bailey	Indivior	-	Shares	Disposed of June 2023
Arabel Bailey	University Hospitals Bristol and Weston	Non executive director	Paid	-
Sally Cheshire CBE	CAFCASS (Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service)	Chair	Paid	Executive Non-Departmental Public Body (NDPB) sponsored by Ministry of Justice
Sally Cheshire CBE	NHS Resolution	Chair	Paid	Special health authority sponsored by Department of Health and Social Care
Sally Cheshire CBE	Care Quality Commission	Non-executive Director and Chair of Audit & Corporate Governance Committee	Paid	Executive NDPB sponsored by Department of Health and Social Care Chair of Audit Committee. Role ended 31 December 2022
Sally Cheshire CBE	Health Education England - LETB (Local Education and Training Board) North	Chair	Paid	Executive NDPB sponsored by Department of Health and Social Care Role ended 31 March 2020
Sally Cheshire CBE	Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority	Chair	Paid	Executive NDPB sponsored by Department of Health and Social Care. Term of office completed on 31 March 2021.
Sally Cheshire CBE	Public Chairs Forum	On the Management Committee	Unpaid	Role ended January 2026
Ian Wilson	BPDTS Ltd	Non-executive Director	Paid	Resigned June 2021
Ian Wilson	Church of England Pensions Board	Trustee	Unpaid	-
Ian Wilson	DXC UK Trustee Ltd	Director	Paid	-
Ian Wilson	Friends of Milton Keynes Hospital Charity	Trustee	Unpaid	Resigned June 2021
Ian Wilson	Government Actuary’s Department	Non-executive Director	Paid	-
Ian Wilson	LFMKH Ltd	Director	Unpaid	Resigned June 2021
Ian Wilson	Royal College of General Practitioners	Trustee	Unpaid	-
Ian Wilson	Ministry of Defence: Defence Business Services	Non-executive Director	Paid	Term of office completed in June 2021
Ian Wilson	Purple Leaf Solutions Ltd	Director	Paid	-
Ian Wilson	RCGP Superannuation Fund Trust Company LTD	Director	Unpaid	Dormant company
Ian Wilson	Royal Holloway, University of London	Council member	Unpaid	-
Ian Wilson	UKRI (UK Innovation and Research)	Non-executive Director	Paid	Resigned March 2023
Simon Sear	Acuity Analytics (Formerly Ascent)	Managing Director	Paid	-
Simon Sear	Scott Logic Ltf	Chief Innovation Officer	Paid	March 2026 until present
Simon Sear	Project 44 Ltd	Director/CEO	Paid	March 2020 until present
Martin Duggan	Augmented Intelligence Inc	Board Member/Shareholder	Paid	There are plans in place to handle any potential conflicts of interest
Martin Duggan	Stewards of Change	Board member	Paid	-
Martin Duggan	Goodrich court ‘Right to Manage’ company	Board member	Unpaid	-
Martin Duggan	Martin Duggan Ventures Limited	Director/Shareholder	Paid	-
Martin Duggan	HSBC	Shareholding	-	There are plans in place to handle any potential conflicts of interest
Martin Duggan	Natwest PLC	Shareholding	-	There are plans in place to handle any potential conflicts of interest
Taalib (Taalibhusain) Shaar	Route 67 ltd	Director	Unpaid	-
Taalib (Taalibhusain) Shaar	Barclays	-	Shareholder	-
Taalib (Taalibhusain) Shaar	Barclays	Group Risk Officer	Paid	-
Taalib (Taalibhusain) Shaar	The Gateways and Elystan Management Company	Director	Unpaid	Resigned May 2026
Professor Malcolm Morley OBE	Infrastructure & Service Transformation Authority	Associate	Paid	There were plans in place to handle any conflicts of interest
Professor Malcolm Morley OBE	Anglia Ruskin University	Visiting Professor	Paid	-
Professor Malcolm Morley OBE	University of Bedfordshire	Visiting Professor	Paid	Resigned January 2022
Professor Malcolm Morley OBE	Radioactive Waste Management	Chair	Paid	Resigned 31 December 2021
Richard Newsome	Daemon Solutions	Chairman	Paid	Plans in place to handle any conflicts/recuse from any relevant discussions between Daemon and DWP
Oliver Rowlands	RELX PLC	-	Shareholdier	-
Oliver Rowlands	Elsevier Limited (Relx Group PLC)	Director	Paid	-
Oliver Rowlands	Lapwing Education	Trustee	Unpaid	Resigned January 2024
Gayle Sparkes	Citi	-	Shareholder	-
Gayle Sparkes	Citi	Global Head of Conduct Risk`	Paid	Resigned April 2024
Gayle Sparkes	Natwest PLC	Head of Conduct and Compliance Risk	Paid	-
Gayle Sparkes	Protect Whistle Blowing Charity	Trustee	Unpaid	-

Special advisors

Name	Name of company or organisation	Position Held	Type of Interest for example	Other relevant information
Alaina MacDonald	-	-	-	Nil Return
Eve Navias	-	-	-	Nil Return
James Kilmartin	-	-	-	Nil Return
Morgan Wild	-	-	-	Mr Wild is an advisory board member for YIMBY Alliance
Tamara Cohen	-	-	-	Nil Return
Bex Bailey	-	-	-	Nil Return
Graeme Cooke	-	-	-	Nil Return
Jason Beattie	-	-	-	Nil Return
Alex Zatman	-	-	-	Mr Zatman’s spouse held a Ministerial position in the Cabinet Office.
John Stevens	-	-	-	Nil Return