The prime minister has established a new council to bring civil society into the heart of government decision‑making.
The Civil Society Council will provide a central forum to address issues that cut across government, including social cohesion and public service commissioning, and to identify opportunities for civil society to play a greater role in the design and delivery of policies and services. It council will meet quarterly in Downing Street and be supported by a dedicated team in No10.
The council will be chaired by Kate Lee, chief executive of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, while former senior civil servants Dame Clare Moriarty and Emma de Closset are among its members.
Moriarty was perm sec at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and then the Department for Exiting the EU, before becoming chief exec of Citizens Advice UK in 2021. De Closset was a director in the Cabinet Office before becoming chief exec of UK Community Foundations in 2025.
The creation of the council follows the publication of a civil society covenant in November, in which the government committed to "reset" the relationship between UK government and civil society by creating "an environment in which civil society is respected, supported and listened to by government, both when working in partnership with civil society and independently, when civil society is holding government to account”.
The full list of council members is as follows:
- Kate Lee (chair) – chief exec of NCVO
- Matt Hyde – chief exec of Lloyds Bank Foundation
- Gemma Peters – chief exec of Macmillan Cancer Support
- Dame Clare Moriarty – chief exec of Citizens Advice
- Mark Russell – chief exec of The Children’s Society
- Emma de Closset – chief exec of UK Community Foundations
- Charlotte Hill – chief exec of The Felix Project & FareShare
- Bishop Rob Wickham – chief exec of the Church Urban Fund
- Dr Tessy Ojo – chief exec of The Diana Award
- Maddy Desforges – chief exec of NAVCA
- Saeed Atcha – chief exec of Youth Leads UK
- Innes Morgan – director and founder of Act with Purpose
- Dr Lindsay Cordery-Bruce – chief exec of WCVA
The council members were appointed following an open and competitive expressions -of-interest process that received nearly 600 applications. No.10 said the final members were selected to reflect a broad mix of experience, expertise and geographic representation.