# Permanent secretary (UK)

A permanent under-secretary of state, known informally as a permanent secretary, is the most senior civil servant of a ministry in the United Kingdom, charged with running the department on a day-to-day basis. Permanent secretaries are appointed under a scheme in which the prime minister has the final say in the recruitment process; since 2015, the PM chooses directly from a list created by the Civil Service Commissioners rather than only having a veto over the Commissioners' preferred candidate.
Some permanent secretaries do not hold the position of permanent secretary but still hold that grade. The Transparency of Lobbying, Non-party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Act 2014 explains that a permanent secretary, for the purposes of Section 2 of that Act, is a person serving in government in any of the following positions: Permanent Secretary, Second Permanent Secretary, Cabinet Secretary, Chief Executive of His Majesty's Revenue and Customs, Chief Medical Officer, Director of Public Prosecutions, First Parliamentary Counsel, Government Chief Scientific Adviser, Head of the Civil Service, or Prime Minister's Adviser for Europe and Global Issues.
Similar offices, often employing different terms, exist in many other Westminster-style systems and in some other governments. In the United States, the equivalent position is a Deputy Secretary of an executive department, though British permanent secretaries are career civil servants whereas Deputy Secretaries are political appointees.

## History

When Lord Grey took office as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in 1830, Sir John Barrow was especially requested to continue serving as Secretary in his department (the Admiralty), starting the principle that senior civil servants stay in office on change of government and serve in a non-partisan manner. It was during Barrow's occupancy of the post that it was renamed permanent secretary.

## Role

The permanent secretary, who in some but not all government departments is known formally as the permanent under-secretary of state, is the accounting officer for a department, meaning that they are answerable to Parliament for ensuring that the department appropriately spends money granted by Parliament. Permanent secretaries are thus frequently called for questioning by the Public Accounts Committee and select committees of the House of Commons. The permanent secretary usually chairs a department's management board which consists of executive members (other civil servants in the department) and non-executive directors. In the 1970s, the permanent secretary to Tony Benn when he was Secretary of State for Industry was Peter Carey. After Benn spent government money on worker cooperatives, notably Meriden Motorcycle Co-operative, Carey went before the Public Accounts Committee and expressed the opinion that his minister's expenditure had been ultra vires. Benn was soon moved to the Department of Energy, while Carey received a knighthood in the following honours list.
Some larger departments also have a second permanent secretary who acts as deputy. In the early 1970s, in a major reorganisation of Whitehall, many smaller ministries were amalgamated into larger departments. Following this reorganisation, virtually all departments had second permanent secretaries for a time, though this is no longer as common.
The most senior civil servant is the Cabinet Secretary, currently Sir Chris Wormald; he is normally also the Head of the Home Civil Service. The holder of this office is distinct from other officials of permanent secretary rank within the Cabinet Office. By convention, the Prime Minister is Minister for the Civil Service and as such makes regulations regarding the service and has authority over it. These duties are delegated to the Minister for the Cabinet Office.

## Honours

Permanent secretaries are usually created Knights/Dames Commander of the Order of the Bath after five or more years of service in the grade, or on retirement if not already holding the title (although Permanent Secretaries of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office are usually created Knights/Dames Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George instead). The most senior permanent secretaries, such as the Cabinet Secretary, may be created Knights/Dames Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath, and even be given a life peerage after retirement. For salary comparison purposes, the permanent secretary is deemed broadly equivalent to a general and to a High Court judge.

## Current permanent secretaries

Below is a list of the individuals in the UK government at the grade of permanent secretary. Some departments are currently led by persons that do not hold the rank of Permanent Secretary or do not have a civil service executive at all; these have not been included.
Permanent secretaries in the UK government :
| Department | Individual | Position |
| Ministerial departments |||
| Cabinet Office | Sir Chris Wormald KCB | Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Home Civil Service |
| Cabinet Office | Catherine Little CB | Cabinet Office Permanent Secretary and Chief Operating Officer of the Civil Service |
| Cabinet Office | Michael Ellam CB | Second Permanent Secretary |
| Cabinet Office | Jessica de Mounteney | First Parliamentary Counsel |
| Cabinet Office | Madeleine Alessandri CMG | Chair, Joint Intelligence Committee |
| Cabinet Office | Jonathan Powell | National Security Adviser |
| Department for Business and Trade | Gareth Davies CB | Permanent Secretary |
| Department for Business and Trade | Sir Crawford Falconer KCMG | Second Permanent Secretary and Chief Trade Negotiation Adviser |
| Department for Culture, Media and Sport | Susannah Storey | Permanent Secretary |
| Department for Education | Susan Acland-Hood | Permanent Secretary |
| Department for Energy Security and Net Zero | Jeremy Pocklington CB | Permanent Secretary |
| Department for Energy Security and Net Zero | Clive Maxwell CBE | Second Permanent Secretary |
| Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs | Dame Tamara Finkelstein DCB | Permanent Secretary |
| Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs | Nicholas Joicey CB | Second Permanent Secretary |
| Department for Science, Innovation and Technology | Sarah Munby | Permanent Secretary |
| Department for Science, Innovation and Technology | Dame Angela McLean DBE FRS | Government Chief Scientific Adviser |
| Department for Transport | Dame Bernadette Kelly DCB | Permanent Secretary |
| Department for Transport | Jo Shanmugalingam | Second Permanent Secretary |
| Department for Work and Pensions | Sir Peter Schofield KCB | Permanent Secretary |
| Department of Health and Social Care | Prof Sir Chris Whitty KCB FRS | Permanent Secretary and Chief Medical Officer for England |
| Department of Health and Social Care | Tom Riordan CBE | Second Permanent Secretary |
| Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office | Sir Philip Barton KCMG OBE | Permanent Secretary and Head of His Majesty's Diplomatic Service |
| Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office | Nick Dyer | Second Permanent Secretary |
| Home Office | Sir Matthew Rycroft KCMG CBE | Permanent Under-Secretary of State at the Home Office |
| Home Office | Simon Ridley | Second Permanent Secretary |
| HM Treasury | James Bowler CB | Permanent Secretary |
| HM Treasury | Beth Russell | Second Permanent Secretary |
| HM Treasury | Martin Clarke | Government Actuary |
| Ministry of Defence | David Williams CB | Permanent Secretary |
| Ministry of Defence | Paul Lincoln CB OBE VR | Second Permanent Secretary |
| Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government | Sarah Healey CB CVO | Permanent Secretary |
| Ministry of Justice | Dame Antonia Romeo DCB | Permanent Secretary and Clerk of the Crown in Chancery |
| Northern Ireland Office | Julie Harrison | Permanent Secretary |
| Non-ministerial departments and non-departmental public bodies |||
| Crown Prosecution Service | Stephen Parkinson | Director of Public Prosecutions |
| Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) | Anne Keast-Butler | Director of the Government Communications Headquarters |
| Government Legal Department | Susanna McGibbon | His Majesty's Procurator General, Treasury Solicitor and Head of the Government Legal Service |
| HM Revenue and Customs | Sir Jim Harra KCB | First Permanent Secretary and Chief Executive |
| HM Revenue and Customs | Angela MacDonald | Deputy Chief Executive and Second Permanent Secretary, Tax Assurance Commissioner |
| National Crime Agency | Graeme Biggar CBE | Director General of the National Crime Agency |
| Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills | Sir Martyn Oliver | His Majesty's Chief Inspector |
| Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) | Sir Richard Moore KCMG | Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service |
| Security Service (MI5) | Sir Ken McCallum KCB | Director General of the Security Service |
| UK Statistics Authority | Sir Ian Diamond DL FBA FAcSS | National Statistician |
| UK Statistics Authority | Samantha Beckett | Second Permanent Secretary |
| Devolved governments |||
| Northern Ireland Executive | Jayne Brady | Head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service |
| Scottish Government | John-Paul Marks | Permanent Secretary to the Scottish Government |
| Welsh Government | Andrew Goodall CBE | Permanent Secretary of the Welsh Government |