SECRETARY OF STATE FOR HEALTH  2005 - 2007

Born on 2 December 1948, she was educated at the Canberra Girls' Grammar School and Newnham College, Cambridge University.  She is married with a son and a daughter. In her spare time, Ms Hewitt enjoys reading, theatre, music and gardening.

Press and Broadcasting Officer (1983-87) and Policy Co-ordinator (1987-89) to the then Leader of the Opposition, the Rt. Hon. Neil Kinnock; Deputy Director of the Institute for Public Policy Research (1989-94); Director of Research for Andersen Consulting (now Accenture) (1994-97).  Wrote 'About Time' - a book focusing on changes in work and family life - in 1993.

Ms Hewitt became a Member of Parliament in 1997. She was Deputy Chair of the Commission for Social Justice (1992-94) and a member of the Social Security Select Committee before taking up her Ministerial post.   Patricia Hewitt was formerly Minister for Small Business and e-Commerce at the Department of Trade and Industry (1999-2001) and Economic Secretary at the Treasury (1998-1999). She was Secretary of State for Trade and Industry from 2001 until moving to the Department of Health.  She was replaced in 2007 by Alan Johnson.