Ken Thomson
Ken Thomson, former Director General Strategy and External Affairs at the Scottish Government and one of the key architects of devolution.
His distinguished career in the civil service saw him support Ministers of five parties in the UK and Scottish Governments, including as Principal Private Secretary to the Rt Hon Donald Dewar MP MSP as Secretary of State for Scotland and as First Minister of Scotland.
Ken was involved in work on constitutional change since before the creation of the Scottish Parliament in 1999. He later led support for ministers in negotiating the Edinburgh Agreement in 2012, Scotland’s first Fiscal Framework in 2016 and on the consequences for Scotland of EU exit. He also supported successive First Ministers in shaping their programmes for government and on cross-government responses to challenges including Covid-19 and the consequences for Scotland of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
He retired from the civil service in November 2023, following 12 years in Director-General roles at the highest levels of government.
"Governments and those they serve face increasingly complex and disruptive challenges, so it is more important than ever to find ways to bring different disciplines and perspectives to bear in shaping public policy responses. The University of Glasgow’s initiative in creating the Centre for Public Policy is an exciting one. I’m delighted to be able to contribute to that work, and am looking forward to it enormously."
