Shona Dunn
Shona Hunter Dunn is a British civil servant, serving as the Second Permanent Secretary at the Home Office.
Dunn read for a BSc in biology at the University of Birmingham and then an MSc in ecology at Durham University, where her thesis was on "the affects of habitat fragmentation on the woodland edge micro-climate and on the structure and composition of woodland ground flora", after which she joined the Department for Environment in 1995 as a policy adviser. She rose through the various re-organisations of the department and a stint as policy head of Westminster City Council in 2005–6, serving as the director for Fire and Resilience for 2008–11 and then for planning for 2011–13.
In 2013, Dunn was promoted to serve as director-general for education standards in the Department for Education, replacing Stephen Meek. After three years, she was appointed as the next Head of the Economic and Domestic Affairs Secretariat, replacing Jonathan Slater in 2016. In Summer 2018, it was announced that Dunn would be promoted to replace Patsy Wilkinson as the Second Permanent Secretary for the Home Office.
On 29 February 2020, she was appointed acting permanent secretary at the Home Office, following the sudden resignation of Sir Philip Rutnam.Offices held
