Director General, Skills, Department for Education (DfE)

Policy Leaders Fellow, Centre for Science and Policy

Julia Kinniburgh is the Director General for Skills Group at the Department for Education (DfE) a role she began in December 2022. She is also head of the Policy Profession in DfE. Prior to this she was Director General for Strategy Group at DfE from April to December 2022.

Julia’s previous roles in government include: Director General for COVID-19 Response and Schools Recovery at DfE; Director General for the Serious and Organised Crime Group at the Home Office; Director with responsibility for the national curriculum, national qualifications and school accountability at DfE; and senior roles at HM Revenue & Customs and the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government. She has also held roles with the emergency services and local government.

The Director General for Skills is responsible for: higher and further education strategy and policy; apprenticeships; T Levels; student finance and the lifelong loan entitlement; further education provision, quality, restructuring and intervention; the adult education budget and 16 to 19 funding; workforce development, upskilling and lifetime learning, including skills bootcamps; careers and basic skills, including Multiply; analysis and data, including the exploitation of big data for further and higher education, and the Unit for Future Skills; and sponsorship of the Office for Students and the Student Loans Company.