Scot Marchbank will take up the new role in January, replacing Vickie Sheriff, who is now head of news at 10 Downing Street.
Since Sheriff’s move to Number 10 in November last year, MoJ deputy head of news Rob Smith has served as acting head of news at the department headed by Secretary of State Ken Clarke.
Marchbank said he was excited to be moving to the MoJ: ‘It covers so many issues that matter to the public and has a high media profile.’
He added: ‘It’s a challenging time to be working in government comms and the MoJ will be a great place to be.’
The MoJ is one of the largest government departments, with about 95,000 people and a budget of £9.2bn.
