Having graduated from the University of Kent at Canterbury with a degree in English and American Literature, Ursula joined the Inner London Education Authority and then the Civil Service where she undertook a wide range of roles from designing new benefits for disabled people to managing IT networks for benefit delivery.
After leadership roles in the Department for Work and Pensions, Defra and the Office for Criminal Justice Reform, Ursula became 2nd Permanent Secretary and then the first woman Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Defence. Here she was responsible, with the Chief of the Defence Staff, for the leadership of a Department of nearly 300,000 Service and civilian personnel. Her key achievement was to bring the budget of £36 billion into balance. In 2012 she moved to run the Ministry of Justice, with responsibility for running the courts, tribunals and prisons in England and Wales, the administration of legal aid, probation and youth justice, and policy on human rights and data protection. Ursula retired from the Civil Service in 2015 and was a trustee of the National Theatre from 2011 to 2019. She has an Honorary Doctorate from Kent and was made a DCB in the New Year’s Honours 2013.
Ursula is a member of the Finance and Resources, Honorary Degrees and Remuneration Committees.
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