Philip Martin Wheatley CB (born 4 July 1948) is a retired British civil servant, formerly the Director-General of the National Offender Management Service

National Offender Management Service

The National Offender Management Service is an executive agency of the Ministry of Justice responsible for the correctional services in England and Wales...

 and before that, Director-General of HM Prison Service,.

Having attended Leeds Grammar School

Leeds Grammar School

Leeds Grammar School was an independent school in Leeds established in 1552. In August 2005 it merged with Leeds Girls' High School to form The Grammar School at Leeds. The two schools physically united in September 2008....

, Wheatley read law at the University of Sheffield

University of Sheffield

The University of Sheffield is a research university based in the city of Sheffield in South Yorkshire, England. It is one of the original 'red brick' universities and is a member of the Russell Group of leading research intensive universities...

, immediately joining the Prison Service as an officer in 1969 on graduation. He worked in a variety of prisons before becoming Governor of HM Prison Hull in 1986. In 1990, he moved to headquarters, where he held a variety of operational management jobs.

On 1 March 2003, he was appointed Director-General of HM Prison Service, the first Director-General to have previously been a prison officer. On 1 April 2008, the Prison Service was merged with the National Probation Service

National Probation Service

thumb|right|100px|NPS logoThe National Probation Service for England and Wales is a statutory Criminal Justice Service, mainly responsible for the supervision of offenders in the community and the provision of reports to the criminal courts to assist them in their sentencing duties...

 to create the National Offender Management Service (NOMS), which he subsequently led as Director-General.

On 14 June 2004, he was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath

Order of the Bath

The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...

 (CB) on the Queen's Birthday Honours list.

He retired in June 2010. Jack Straw, Justice Minister during Wheatley's time as Director General of NOMS, praised him as "an extraordinarily dedicated individual" with "a record of public service that is second to none". Wheatley has since taken up employment as consultant to G4S, which operates prisons and justice services in the UK and elsewhere. His successor is Michael Spurr who was previously the Chief Operating Officer of NOMS.

Phil Wheatley is married with two children.

Employment History

• 1969-70 Officer, Hatfield borstal, HM Prison Leeds;
• 1970-74 Assistant governor, HM Prison Hull;
• 1974-78 Training specialist, HM Prison Service College;
• 1978-82 Assistant governor, HM Prison Leeds;
• 1982-86 Deputy governor, HM Prison Gartree, Leicestershire;
• 1986-90 Governor, HM Prison Hull;
• 1990-92 HM Prison Service East Midlands area manager;
• 1992-95 Assistant Director of Custody, HM Prison Service;
• 1995-1999 Director of Dispersals (in charge of six highest security jails);
• 1998-2003 Deputy Director-General, HM Prison Service;
• 2003-2008 Director-General, HM Prison Service;
• 2008-2010 Director-General, National Offender Management Service.