Overview
Professor Hugh Rawlings is Director of the Department for the First Minister & Cabinet in the Welsh Government. After 12 years as a Lecturer in Law at Bristol University, he moved to the then Welsh Office in 1988. His first job was implementation of the poll tax and the new non-domestic (business) rating system in Wales. He then became lead policy officer for local government reorganisation in Wales. After a period as Head of the Culture and Recreation Division, in 1997 he was appointed Deputy Head of the Welsh Office Devolution Unit, with particular responsibility for the organisation of the referendum, the legislation creating the Assembly, the drafting of the Assembly's first Standing Orders and the organisation of the first Assembly elections in 1999. He subsequently became Head of the National Assembly's European Affairs Division, and later Director, Open Government and Constitutional Affairs Division.In 2004 he became Director of the Local Government, Public Service and Culture Department, a post which also included responsibility for oversight of constitutional affairs and the operation of the devolution settlement for Wales. He is an Honorary Professor attached to the Wales Governance Centre.