Sarah Stewart Defra

Sarah Stewart

(Currently on maternity leave, returning September 2027, covered by Tom Goss).

Sarah oversees engagement planning across the Farming and Countryside Directorate’s priority policy areas, helping to ensure a clear and coordinated approach to engagement: who the team engages with, when and why.

She also leads the delivery of a portfolio of digital engagement products and channels. She established the Farming Blog in 2020 and continues to edit it.

Before joining Defra, Sarah led communications for the Systems Unit in the Cabinet Office, a government team working on some of the UK’s most complex and cross-cutting priorities. In that role, she was the editor of 'Systems Thinking for Civil Servants, a practical guide to applying systems thinking in government.'

Previously, she was a speechwriter in the Cabinet Office and, before joining the Civil Service, a journalist.