Andrew retired in 2023 after a long career at the highest levels of the civil service: 26 years as a senior civil servant in the Department for Education and its predecessors, the last 12 of which he was the Director General on the Leadership Team of the Department responsible for the school system. His wide range of policy roles during the Labour governments 1997-2010 included the establishment of a cross-Whitehall unit for children and young people’s outcomes, responsibility for school standards, the teacher workforce agreement, and cross-Whitehall delivery programmes in support of vulnerable young people. His leadership roles under the Coalition and Conservative governments 2010-2023 included the academies and free schools programmes, school funding reform, safeguarding in schools, the teaching workforce and school curriculum and qualifications.
He received an OBE in 2001 for public service and was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath in 2019.
