DfE Permanent Secretary

Ian Snowden is the Permanent Secretary of the Department for the Economy. He took up the position on 8 December 2023.

Ian has worked in the Northern Ireland Civil Service for 31 years.  Prior to joining the Department for the Economy, he had been Chief Executive of Land & Property Services for five years, where he was responsible for Land Registers of Northern Ireland, Ordnance Survey NI, Valuation Services, rating policy and the collection of business and domestic rates.  During the pandemic, he led on the delivery of a major package of rate reliefs and grants for businesses affected by the restrictions to control the virus which provided £1.25 billion in support for the local economy.  He has also worked on creating a register of all land and property owned by Northern Ireland departments and arms’ length bodies and a new approach to asset management.

Before joining LPS, Ian worked the Department for Communities as Head of the Engaged Communities Group, where he was responsible for a wide portfolio that included arts, culture, language policy, sport, museums, libraries, built heritage, community development, community based regeneration and social inclusion policy. 

In DfC and the former Department for Social Development, he also worked for almost 18 years in Housing and Urban , working in some of Northern Ireland’s most disadvantaged and segregated communities, including West Belfast and Londonderry.

Since 2015 Ian has led the co-ordination of Northern Ireland’s response to the immediate and longer-term needs of Syrian, Afghan and Ukrainian refugees being resettled in Northern Ireland.  To date, 1,900 Syrians, over 100 Afghans and 3,000 Ukrainians have been successfully supported into new lives here.