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Tim Williams
Tim joined the Civil Service in November 1967 and worked in the Department of Trade and Industry and its various predecessors (such as the Board of Trade and the Ministry of Technology). He worked in various areas of the Department, including aspects of regional and overseas trade policy, escorting overseas businessmen on programmes of visits to UK companies, and working on schemes of assistance for UK aerospace equipment companies. He also carried out several efficiency reviews of aspects of the department's organisation.
Tim became Parliamentary Clerk to the Department of Trade & Industry in April 1989, and for 16 years was responsible for coordinating most of the Department's Parliamentary activities. This included advising Ministers and the department's civil servants of the procedures that should be followed, for example, for parliamentary questions, debates and the passage of legislation.
As Parliamentary Clerk he worked with both Conservative and Labour Administrations, a total of 9 Secretaries of State and 56 junior ministers and saw almost 70 Bills receive Royal Assent.
He took early retirement from the Civil Service in March 2005 and is now a very experienced independent consultant, arranging and speaking at seminars and training courses for civil servants, public bodies and other organisations on Whitehall's interaction with Parliament and all aspects of Parliamentary procedures in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, in particular the details of the legislative process.
