Almost half of the information heads in Whitehall’s 14 principal
ministries have announced their departure since the Labour Government’s
election to office in May.
Department of Trade and Industry Director of Information Jean Caines
this week became the latest top press officer to tender her
resignation.
Caines, now 50, is taking early retirement after eight years in the
job.
She will remain in her post until March 1998.
She spoke warmly of her boss, President of the Board of Trade Margaret
Beckett, and said her decision was not related to the departure of five
other information heads since the election.
’I’m married to someone who is quite a bit older than me and we both
want to do other things,’ she said.
Jill Rutter at the Treasury and Gill Samuel at the Ministry of Defence
have both moved to new roles within the civil service, Liz Drummond at
the Scottish office has taken early retirement, Andy Wood at the
Northern Ireland office is on paid leave, and Steve Reardon at the
Department of Social Security has resigned.
This leaves eight heads of information still in place, including Romola
Christopherson, press and publicity director at the Department of
Health, and Jonathan Haslam, information director at the Department for
Education and Employment.
