Deirdre Hutton

Dame Deirdre Mary Hutton DBE (born 15 March 1949), is a British public servant, termed by the British media as "Queen of the Quangos" and "The great quango hopper". She is currently the Chair of the UK's Civil Aviation Authority.

A former anti-apartheid demonstrator who was once arrested in South Africa, after a short private sector career working for Anchor housing association (1973-75), she then became a researcher for Glasgow Chamber of Commerce (1975-80), before becoming its chair (1980-82).

Since this time, Hutton has worked for over 10 major non-departmental public bodies, unofficially called "quangos", in 30 years. Her first appointment was in 1980 to the Arts Council of Scotland.

She developed her career in championing consumer issues within public sector bodies, particularly in health and food standards and regulation, including: Chair of the Foresight Panel on the Food Chain and Crops for Industry; Chair of the Food Chain Centre; member of the Policy Commission on the Future of Farming and Food (Curry Commission). She chaired the board of Rural Forum Scotland in 1999 when it collapsed due to insolvency. She was, until June 2008, the Vice-Chair of the European Food Safety Authority Management Board. She is Honorary Vice-President of the Institute of Food Science and Technology.

Hutton was non-executive Director of the Scottish Borders Health Board and a member of The King's Fund Organizational Audit Council. She was a member of the Wilson Committee on Complaints in the National Health Service, and of the General Dental Council.

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