Permanent Secretary
Andrew McCormick has been Permanent Secretary, Department of Health,
Social Services and Public Safety since August 2005. He read Geology at University College, Oxford
and has a doctorate in geochemistry from Queen’s University, Belfast.
He
joined the Northern Ireland
Civil Service in 1980, and worked in the Department of Finance & Personnel (DFP) and the Department
of Education between 1980 and 2002, when he became Second Permanent Secretary, DFP.
As Accounting Officer and Chief Executive he oversees the business of
DHSSPS, which comprises:
- Health and Personal Social Services, which includes policy and legislation for hospitals, family practitioner services, community health and personal social services;
- Public Health, which covers responsibility for policy and legislation to promote and protect the health and well-being of the population of Northern Ireland; and
- Public Safety, which encompasses responsibility for the policy and legislation for the Fire Authority, food safety and emergency planning.