Next Steps for the Darlington Economic Campus
Author WIG Date 10 May 2022
A recording of the WIG Webinar: Next Steps for the Darlington Economic Campus with Will Garton, Director General Levelling Up at DLUHC, Beth Russell, Director General Tax and Welfare at HM Treasury and Joanna Crellin, Director General, Trading Systems at the Department for International Trade.
Following the publication of the UK government’s Levelling Up White Paper in February, WIG was delighted to welcome leaders from the flagship Darlington Economic Campus to discuss how the campus is taking shape as part of wider plans to move 22,000 civil service roles out of London by 2030.
Join HMT, DIT and other key stakeholders online for your opportunity to:
- Learn more about the role of the Darlington Economic Campus in taking decision-making closer to the communities the government serves and facilitating greater cross-departmental collaboration
- Discuss plans to effectively embed the campus within the local community and support the levelling up missions
- Explore how organisations across the sectors can work together to maximise the benefits in terms of job creation and skills development
Will Garton is Director General for Levelling Up at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. He is responsible for leading the department’s levelling up mission including ensuring that programmes which contribute to levelling up are held to account on trajectory and delivery both within DLUHC and across other government departments.
Will was previously Director for Public Services at HM Treasury between March 2019 to March 2022, and before that was the Press Secretary to the Chancellor of the Exchequer and Head of Communications between January 2017 to March 2019.
Earlier in his career, Will held positions across both HM Treasury and the Cabinet Office.
Jo Crellin became Director General, Trading Systems at the Department for International Trade (DIT) on 23 November 2020. Previously she was Her Majesty’s Trade Commissioner (HMTC) for Latin America and the Caribbean between April 2018 and November 2020. Her first posting overseas was as British Consul-General in São Paulo, Brazil in February 2015. She was also the Director-General for the Department for International Trade (DIT) for Latin America. Jo has worked for the UK government since 2001. She has occupied roles covering issues as diverse as nuclear decommissioning, social enterprise and corporate finance at:
- the former Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS)
- HM Treasury
Jo has:
- a degree in Social Anthropology, French and Spanish from Cambridge University
- an MSc in Politics of Development in Latin America from the London School of Economics (LSE)
Beth Russell has recently been appointed as the Second Permanent Secretary to the Treasury and is based in the Darlington Economic Campus.
Beth has worked in the Treasury since 2000 in a range of policy roles across tax, welfare and public spending. Previous to her current role she was the Director General of Tax and Welfare in the Treasury and the Director General leading the Treasury economic campus in Darlington.
Her previous Treasury roles included Director of Personal Tax, Welfare and Pensions (2013-2017), Principal Private Secretary to the Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne (2011-2013), Deputy Director of General Expenditure Policy (2008-2011), Deputy Director of Environmental and Transport Taxes (2005-07) and Speechwriter for Gordon Brown when he was Chancellor (2001-2005) and Prime Minister (2007-2008). Beth started her career in Department of Social Security as a policy adviser on welfare (1996-2000).