Tee will move to one of the highest comms roles in government from NHS Direct where he is currently chief executive. An announcement is expected tomorrow.
Howell James vacated the permanent secretary job after four years in June to become corporate affairs director at Barclays.
Tee will follow acting permanent secretary Alan Bishop who has been handling the role in addition to his job as chief executive of the Central Office of Information (COI). Bishop starts work as chief executive for the South Bank Centre in April.
Tee was Department of Health (DoH) acting director of comms while Sian Jarvis was on maternity leave in 2006 and 2007. Jarvis was rumoured to have been on the shortlist for the permanent secretary job.
Before joining the DoH, Tee was director of business development at the information provider Dr Foster.
