Eleanor Fray
After graduating with a BA in Music, I waved goodbye to the Vic Rooms and set off for another University of Bristol landmark - the Wills Memorial Building - where I joined the faculty of law. I spent the next two years completing the MA in Law programme which is a more detailed and academic alternative to the one year law conversion courses. I wasn't 100% sure that I would want to practice law as a solicitor or barrister so wanted as transferable a qualification as possible. This premonition turned out to be right as I soon discovered that I was more interested in the development and making of laws, rather than their application. This led me to look into careers in public services and I applied to join the civil service's graduate development programme (the Fast Stream).
The Fast Stream programme consists of a series of varied postings across Government to give you a breadth of experience across public policy-making and delivery. The civil service is a fascinating and widely varied beast, as demonstrated by my own Fast Stream career. I started off in the then UK Trade & Investment department working on a campaign to promote the UK's excellence in Islamic finance, before joining a policy team in the Ministry of Justice to help take a bill through Parliament. After a secondment to local government, I took up another policy post in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs where I was tasked with implementing an EU Regulation on equine identification (yes - horse passports!).
I then returned to the Ministry of Justice, spending a year in the Corporate Finance team before joining "Private Office" - the team of civil servants who work directly to Ministers, acting as the key point of contact between them and the department. I started my Private Office career working for the Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor as an Assistant Private Secretary before progressing to Private Secretary, and now Deputy Principal Private Secretary leading on the prisons and probation portfolio. Throughout this time, I have been fortunate to meet so many interesting people, from Cabinet Ministers and senior judges to prisoners and prison officers - and all amongst the whirlwind of a referendum, snap General Election, and three separate Justice Secretaries. Along the way, I've always found people to be interested in the fact that I studied music, and I enjoy explaining to everyone what an historical, creative, mathematical and logical discipline it is! Music remains a strong passion of mine, and in my spare time I sing with a choir at St-Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square.
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