Notes for editors
Dame Janet Paraskeva became the First Commissioner for the Civil Service on 1 January 2006.
She is a non-executive board member of the Serious Organised Crime Agency and Chair of the Olympic Lottery Distributor.
She is also Chair of the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission. She was the Law Society’s Chief Executive from 2000 until August 2006.
Peter Riddell is Senior Fellow at the Institute for government, working on changes of government and what makes an effective minister.
This month he ended a forty-year career in journalism during which he spent 21 years on the Financial Times (writing mainly on economics, politics and in the USA) and for 19 years on The Times (as Chief Political Commentator). He is Chair of the Hansard Society and has written six books on British politics.