The Health and Safety Commission (HSC) has appointed Timothy Walker as Director General of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). He will succeed Jenny Bacon, who leaves to take up a new role with the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.

Walker joins HSE from Customs and Excise, where he is Deputy Chairman. He began his
career as an academic scientist and following a period in local government, joined the Department of Trade in 1977, where he had a series of jobs dealing with trade with the Middle East, telecommunications liberalisation and grants to industry.

Timothy Walker

Mr Walker ran the Alvey programme of collaborative IT research and development from 1987-9 and then moved to the Department of Energy to take responsibility for civil nuclear matters. In 1995 he moved to the Home Office as Director General for immigration and nationality. He was appointed Deputy Chairman of Customs and Excise in 1998 and has been a non-executive director in the public and private sectors.

HSC Chair, Bill Callaghan said: "HSC is pleased to appoint such an accomplished manager with an impressive track record. The agenda set out in Revitalising Health and Safety is a challenging one for HSC, HSE, and all our stakeholders. I look forward to working with Timothy Walker in meeting these challenges when he takes up his post."

The appointment was made following an open competition at which candidates from both the public and private sectors were considered.

Richard Byatt