James A Cruddas is Deputy Director Waste and Recycling at DEFRA and a Methodist Church minister in Birmingham, combining public service and ministry roles.

A civil servant for more than three decades, in his current role James is senior responsible owner and system lead for the tackling waste crime programme, also leads a collaborative project with every local authority in England to standardise waste collection to increase recycling, and oversees residual waste infrastructure.

His previous roles have included work on trade, particularly Northern Ireland after Brexit, national emergency response and recovery, regeneration, housing and transport, as well as organisational change and HR. In ministry, he has served in Lesnes Abbey, and West London Mission, where he was a charity trustee of a large social enterprise.

He holds an MBA with distinction, is a Chartered Management Institute member, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and was appointed OBE in 2022 for public service. He is a non-executive member of the board of Local Partnerships. Married with four sons, James resides in the West Midlands.