THE PETERSFIELD woman tasked with keeping the nation’s rail services on track with a £3 billion budget has earned a high calibre award in the New Year’s Honours.

A distinguished Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB)?has been given to former Government transport supremo Clare Moriaty.

As the Director General of the Rail Executive she was responsible for the rail network’s services, strategy and infrastructure, and she has earned the award for services to transport.

A qualified accountant, her career has encompassed leadership roles in government departments including health and the Ministry of Justice.

She was appointed Director General for Rail at the Department of Transport in January 2013.

And in this industry-facing role she was responsible for delivery of the government’s objectives for rail.

This ranged from developing policies to gaining franchises to major infrastructure projects. She led commercial relationships with a wide range of private sector partners.

Before this, she was Director General, Corporate Group for the Department of Transport, in charge of finance and sponsorship of five motoring agencies.

She has a long-standing interest in leadership, organisational development and change.

She was ‘board champion’ for gender at the Department of Transport, supporting the development of women leaders across the Civil Service.

She took up her current position, as Permanent Secretary for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), in August 2015.

Her early career was spent mainly in policy roles in the Department of Health and the National Health Service.

In the mid-1990s she served as Principal Private Secretary to both Conservative and Labour Secretaries of State for Health.

She later piloted NHS Foundation Trust policy from legislation to implementation. From 2005 to 2008, Clare was Constitution Director at the Ministry of Transport.