The Iraq Inquiry Secretariat

The Secretariat supports the Inquiry Committee Chairman and the other members of the Inquiry in carrying out their tasks. That includes a wide range of duties (from logistical arrangements to requesting papers and statements and preparing papers for the Committee's consideration) agreed by the Committee.

There are currently eleven staff employed in the Iraq Inquiry Secretariat, seconded from the following Government Departments: Cabinet Office, three; Ministry of Defence, three; Foreign and Commonwealth Office, one; Northern Ireland Office, one; Serious Fraud Office, two; Department for International Development, one. In addition to the eleven staff listed above, there are currently two temporary support staff engaged from outside Government.

Iraq Inquiry Secretary, Margaret Aldred CB CBE.

The Cabinet Secretary nominated Margaret Aldred as the Secretary in June 2009 and she is seconded to the Inquiry from the Cabinet Office. Ms Aldred joined the Civil Service as a graduate trainee in 1975. She spent 25 years in the Ministry of Defence, where she worked in a wide range of areas, including three years as the Principal Private Secretary to the Defence Secretary. Her last post in the MoD was Director General Management and Organisation. She has also worked in HM Treasury and the Home Office, and was the Deputy Head of the Defence and Overseas Secretariat in the Cabinet Office from November 2004 to August 2009. Ms Aldred was appointed CBE in the 1991 Gulf Honours list, and CB in the 2009 New Year Honours list.

The other members of the Inquiry Secretariat's senior management team are:

Clare Salters, Deputy Secretary, is seconded from the Northern Ireland Office where, as Head of Constitutional Policy & Liaison, she was part of the team that restored devolution and devolved policing and justice in Northern Ireland. Her previous roles included work on human rights and equality, police reform, public inquiries and serving as Private Secretary to the Head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service. She has also worked in the Department for Culture Media and Sport and the Northern Ireland Department for Health and Social Services.

Stephen Myers, Legal Adviser, is seconded from the Serious Fraud Office, where he was a Case Manager. He previously served as Solicitor to the Inquiry into allegations of State collusion in the murder, in 1999, of Northern Ireland human rights lawyer, Rosemary Nelson.

Others who formed part of the Inquiry Secretariat's senior management team in the past are:

Alicia Forsyth, Deputy Secretary, was seconded to the Inquiry from the Ministry of Defence from July 2009 until September 2011. Prior to joining the Inquiry Secretariat, her posts included working in the MOD press office, Private Secretary to the 2nd Permanent Secretary in the MOD and Assistant Director of the Directorate of Policy Planning formulating Defence Policy and working on Conflict Prevention. She also served as a Political Adviser to the EU Peacekeeping troops in Bosnia Herzegovina. 

Sarah Goom, outgoing Legal Adviser, was seconded from the Serious Fraud Office where she was an Assistant Director, responsible for fraud and corruption prosecutions. Her previous roles include Director Prosecutions at the DTI from 2005-2008, criminal law adviser at the Attorney General's Office from 2004 to 2005, and Senior Lawyer in the Customs and Excise Prosecutions Office from 1999 to 2004. She moved to the Attorney General's Office in January 2012.