Director General, Local Government, Resilience and Communities, Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

Policy Leaders Fellowship alumna, Centre for Science and Policy

Catherine Frances has been Director General at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (formerly the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government) since April 2019. Catherine has a lead role in establishing the relationship between central government and the local government sector, including oversight of the financing of local government and system-wide leadership in central government on the coordination of policy and delivery with local government. She also leads the Strategy and Data/Analysis functions of the Department, ensuring that policy and decision making is joined up and supported by robust data and evidence.

Catherine was formerly the Director of Public Services in HM Treasury, where she led the Treasury’s work on housing policy, local growth, local government, NHS and social care and public service reform. She has previously worked in education and skills spending and undertaken various roles in promoting productivity growth. She has worked in Strategy in the Department for Health and Social Care. Prior to her civil service career, she was an academic where her focus was on economic and demographic history.