Darren Tierney
Biography
Darren became Director General, Propriety and Constitution Group in March 2023. He joined the Cabinet Office as Director General, Propriety & Ethics in March 2021.
Prior to this, he was Director General for Global Trade and Investment in the Department for International Trade (DIT) from 2019 to 2021. He was previously Director of Strategy in DIT from 2016 to 2019.
Darren was interim Director General of Prison Policy in the Ministry of Justice in 2016. From 2015 to 2016 he was Director of Civil Service Efficiency in the Cabinet Office. Prior to that he worked in the Ministry of Justice from 2007 to 2016 where he was responsible for a range of civil and criminal justice policy, including as Director of Youth Justice policy. He was Principal Private Secretary to the Rt Hon Kenneth Clarke from 2010 to 2011.
Darren spent the early part of his career working on a range of policy roles in transport and housing after studying business administration and modern languages at Queen’s University Belfast.
Previous roles in government
- Director General, Propriety & Ethics, Cabinet Office, 2021 to 2023
- Director General, Global Trade and Investment, Department for International Trade, 2019 to 2021
- Director of Strategy, Department for International Trade, 2016 to 2019
- Interim Director General of Prison Policy, Ministry of Justice, 2016
- Director of Civil Service Efficiency, Cabinet Office, 2015-2016
- Varied roles, including Director of Youth Justice Policy and Principal Private Secretary to the Rt Hon Kenneth Clarke, Ministry of Justice, 2007-2016
Director General, Propriety and Constitution Group (PCG)
The Director General, Propriety and Constitution Group is responsible for:
- ensuring the highest standards of propriety and ethics across all government departments
- overseeing constitutional policy and providing advice to Ministers on parliamentary, crown and other constitutional issues
- overseeing the Honours Secretariat
- overseeing the Privy Council Office
- advising on the policies and codes governing ministers and special advisers
- managing government’s relationship with the ‘independent offices’ (e.g. the Civil Service Commission)
- advising on public appointments (i.e. appointment to posts of public administration)