Ruth Mackenzie joins expanded DCMS
Ruth Mackenzie, since last year director of arts at the British Council, has been appointed an arts minister under Lisa Nandy at DCMS with a seat in the House of Lords.
Mackenzie, 69, joins an expanded ministerial team with Ian Murray reappointed minister of state and Stephanie Peacock as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State to DCMS. Fiona Twycross also returns but with a dual role as Parliamentary Under Secretary to the Cabinet Office and to DCMS.
The department is now back to its former title of Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport with new responsibility for the government digital service, for digital and tech integration, and the Office for Impact Economy as part of the strategy for slimming down the Cabinet Office. It will have strategic oversight across telecoms, media and online safety alongside existing responsibility for youth policy as well as culture and creativity.
“Our expanded brief reflects the importance of this department in delivering the government’s ambitious agenda and marks a significant growth in the size and scope of DCMS” said a departmental statement.
Also joining the DCMS ministerial team are Liz Lloyd, formerly a minister at the now defunct Department for Science, Innovation and Technology; and Vicky Foxcroft who resigned as a Treasury minister in June over proposed cuts to disability benefits.
Among many roles in arts administration Mackenzie, who will represent DCMS in the House of Lords, was director of the Cultural Olympics in the UK in 2012 for which she was awarded a CBE. She has been a special adviser to DCMS, co-artistic director at Chichester Festival Theatre, executive director of Nottingham Playhouse, director of Scottish Opera, and general director of Manchester International Festival as well as holding roles at Arts Council England.
Image courtesy of National Portrait Gallery