Eddie Frizzell

Eddie Frizzell graduated in History with Political Economy from Glasgow University in 1968 and worked mainly as an economist before joining the civil service as a direct entry Principal in the then Scottish Office in 1976.

Following assignments in agriculture and fisheries he was seconded in 1978 to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and joined the Office of the Permanent Representative to the European Communities in Brussels as First Secretary, in which capacity he was heavily involved in the UK’s negotiation of the Common Fisheries Policy.

He returned to the Scottish Office in 1982 as Head of the Division in the then Scottish Education Department dealing with Higher Education and Student Support. This was followed by a spell as Head of the Scottish Office Finance Division responsible for public expenditure. In the late 1980s he was appointed Director of Locate in Scotland, the Government agency responsible for attracting inward investment. In 1991 he became Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, a role he fulfilled for 8 years before being appointed Head of the newly devolved Scottish Executive’s Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Department.

Eddie retired from the civil service in 2006. He would continue his service to the public and to Higher Education in a number of roles including as an independent member of the Audit Committee of HM Prison Service for England and Wales, as Leader of a Scottish Government Inquiry into abuse at a former residential school and secure unit, as Budget Adviser to the Scottish Parliament’s Justice Committee, as a member and then Chair of the Court of Abertay University.