Helen is the Director General of the MoJ’s Justice Policy Group. She was previously Chief Executive of the National Offender Management Service, with overall responsibility for the offender management system and for reducing re-offending in England and Wales (06-08).
Prior to this Helen Edwards was Director General of the Home Office's Communities Group. She was responsible for the Government’s work with the voluntary and community sector and for race equality, faith and community cohesion.

Helen originally joined the Home Office in 2002 as the Director of the Active Communities Directorate. Prior to that, she worked at NACRO, the national crime reduction charity, where she did a number of jobs over an 18 year period including spending the last five years as Chief Executive. Before joining NACRO she worked for the Save the Children Fund in the London Borough of Lambeth setting up a pioneering project for young offenders and originally trained and worked as a social worker for East Sussex County Council. She is a Trustee of the Washington based Eisenhower Foundation.
Helen has a first degree in social science from the University of Sussex and a Masters degree from Warwick University. She is also a Fellow of the RSA and has an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Middlesex. In 2001, Helen received a CBE in recognition of her services to offenders.