Beth Ashton Email & Phone Number

Westminster

NSGI supports UK government objectives overseas to increase the impact of aid interventions and help build effective institutions in fragile and developing countries.

Firstline is an innovative new development programme that seeks to transform the lives of vulnerable children by helping to develop first line social work managers.Since taking part in the leadership of the Firstline project, I have been managing team projects to enable social work managers to better support families.

As a policy advisor, I worked on several social work reform policies, each at different stages of policy development, implementation and delivery.- Drove forward initial development work on Teaching Partnerships: scoped and secured departmental agreement for the policy, including providing advice on likely costs, resources required and fit with current legislation; delivered a stakeholder engagement strategy to inform the development of the policy.- Project managed the evaluation of the Step Up to Social Work programme including the tendering process and contract delivery; managed the administration of Cohort 3, administering monthly payments and providing policy advice to regional partnerships of local authorities.- Presented a series of proposals on the future of social care regulation based on research and analysis of existing arrangements for other professions.- Drafted extensive briefing on various social work reform policies, including for ministers, the Permanent Secretary and Non-Executive Board Members.

I was responsible for the delivery of House of Commons parliamentary business, including managing urgent parliamentary priorities, briefing ministers, and guiding legislation through Parliament.- Radically improved the department’s processes for dealing with House of Commons business, such as for PMQs, Oral Questions and preparation for debates, enabling higher quality and more efficient briefings.- Line managed a Fast-Track Apprentice who was new to the Civil Service, managing and planning her workload, supporting her development, and helping her to balance her apprenticeship commitments with the team’s priorities.- Planned, wrote and delivered a series of presentations across the main DfE sites on how colleagues can engage with Parliament effectively.

London, United Kingdom

My role was split between Policy, Corporate and Department of State Functions in the Permanent Secretary's Private Office at the Department for Education. - My policy areas included: children's services, early years policy, apprenticeships and 16-19 education and free school meals. Also responsible for the Permanent Secretary's international education policy portfolio and closing the attainment gap. - Private Secretary to the Permanent Secretary in his role as Head of Policy Profession across the Civil Service.- Wrote a speech wrote for the Permanent Secretary to deliver entitled ‘Education in 2025’, themed around parallels and differences between the department’s priorities today and those of the past 50 years.- Organised a high-profile seminar that was jointly hosted by the Permanent Secretary and Chief Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police.- Introduced and delivered ‘Private Office Taster Sessions’ to improve the department’s understanding of how Private Office functions, and how to collaborate most effectively.

Hinde House 3-16 School, Sheffield

As a Teach First participant, I was responsible for planning, teaching and assessing my Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4 English classes, following an intensive six weeks of training.- Taught the target GCSE class as part of the school’s Raising Achievement Programme.- Organised an overnight trip to London for twenty gifted Year 9 students.- Developed new schemes of work for students with English as an Additional Language, which enabled them to access the curriculum and significantly improved their learning outcomes. - Researched, prepared and delivered whole-school English as an Additional Language training.- Team-taught with David Blunkett as part of Teach First Week 2010- Gained advanced coaching accreditation from the Institute of Educational Coaching and coached two colleagues; trained in structured conversations, a communication tool for use in one on one conversations with stakeholders and colleagues.

Master’S Degree, Msc Security Studies

Bachelor’S Degree, Bsc International Relations And History, 2:1