Sir Jon Shortridge KCB (born 1947) was a British Civil Servant. He served as the Permanent Secretary of the Welsh Office in March 1999 and of the National Assembly for Wales on its creation in May 1999. He became Permanent Secretary of the Welsh Assembly Government on its establishment as a separate institution in May 2007. Established the National Assembly for Wales and, as permanent secretary, successfully embedded devolution in Wales. He left the post at the end of April 2008. In 2009, he was brought back as interim Permanent Secretary of the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills.
He was educated at Chichester High School For Boys and has a degree (MA) in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from St Edmund Hall a College of Oxford University, and in Urban Design and Regional Planning (MSc) from Edinburgh University. He has two children. He was an outstanding line out forward at school and played regularly for the Greyhounds (Oxford University’s 2nd XV) and many times for the varsity team, unfortunately just missing out on a “blue”.
He joined the Welsh Office in 1984. Between 1987 and 1988 he was Private Secretary to two Secretaries of State for Wales, Nicholas Edwards and Peter Walker. From 1988 to 1992 he was Head of the Welsh Office’s Finance Division. He undertook the Senior Management Review of the Welsh Office in 1995, and was appointed Director of Economic Affairs in 1997, with responsibility for establishing the National Assembly for Wales.
Home Articles News Events Galleries Newsletter Members Forum Links Contact