Sir Michael Charles Scholar, KCB (born 3 January 1942) is a British civil servant and former President of

St John's College, Oxford St John's College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded as a men's college in 1555, it has been coeducational since 1979.Communication from Michael Riordan, college archivist Its foun ...

Education

He was educated at St Olave's Grammar School and

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College, formally the College of St John the Evangelist in the University of Cambridge, is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge, founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch L ...

( BA Classics and Moral Sciences 1964, MA,

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

Research Fellow A research fellow is an academic research position at a university or a similar research institution, usually for academic staff or faculty members. A research fellow may act either as an independent investigator or under the supervision of a p ...

, Honorary Fellow 1999) and held positions at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

, and the

University of Leicester The University of Leicester ( ) is a public university, public research university based in Leicester, England. The main campus is south of the city centre, adjacent to Victoria Park, Leicester, Victoria Park. The university's predecessor, Univ ...

. He is the father of Sir Tom Scholar who was Permanent Secretary to the Treasury between 2016 and 2022.

Civil Service career

He joined

HM Treasury His Majesty's Treasury (HM Treasury or HMT), and informally referred to as the Treasury, is the Government of the United Kingdom’s economic and finance ministry. The Treasury is responsible for public spending, financial services policy, Tax ...

in 1969 and was appointed Assistant Principal in 1970. He was Private Secretary to the

Chief Secretary to the Treasury The Chief Secretary to the Treasury is a senior ministerial office in the government of the United Kingdom and is the second most senior ministerial office in HM Treasury, after the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The office holder is always a full ...

1974–76. From 1979 to 1981 he worked for Barclays Bank. He was then Private Secretary to the

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

(1981–83), Under Secretary HM Treasury (1983–87), and Deputy Secretary (1987–93). He was

Permanent Secretary A permanent secretary is the most senior Civil Service (United Kingdom), civil servant of a department or Ministry (government department), ministry charged with running the department or ministry's day-to-day activities. Permanent secretaries are ...

of the

Welsh Office The Welsh Office () was a department in the Government of the United Kingdom with responsibilities for Wales. It was established in April 1965 to execute government policy in Wales, and was headed by the Secretary of State for Wales, a post wh ...

1993–96 and of the Department of Trade and Industry 1996–2001.

Oxford Master

He served as President of St John's College, Oxford from 1 August 2001 to 2012. He was also a Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Chairman of the Conference of Colleges, and Chairman of the Oxford University Careers Service, and a member of the Audit Committee. He is also a non-executive Director of Legal and General Investment Management (Holdings).

Honours

In 1996, he was appointed an Honorary Fellow of the University of Wales, Aberystwyth and 14 July 2003 he became an Honorary Fellow of

Cardiff University Cardiff University () is a public research university in Cardiff, Wales. It was established in 1883 as the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire and became a founding college of the University of Wales in 1893. It was renamed Unive ...

. He was awarded an honorary doctorate by the

University of Glamorgan The University of Glamorgan () was a public university based in South Wales, that merged with University of Wales, Newport to form the University of South Wales in April 2013. The university was based in Pontypridd, in Rhondda Cynon Taf, with ...

in 1999. He was appointed Companion of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath in 1991 and advanced to KCB in 1999. Scholar is a keen musician and received the Associateship Diploma of the Royal College of Organists in 1965. He was Honorary Secretary of the

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is a theatre in Covent Garden, central London. The building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. The ROH is the main home of The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet, and the Orch ...

from 1988–93.

UK Statistics Authority

On 1 April 2008, Sir Michael became the 3 day-a-week non-executive chairman of the new

UK Statistics Authority The UK Statistics Authority (UKSA, ) is a non-ministerial government department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for oversight of the Office for National Statistics, maintaining a national code of practice for official statist ...

(UKSA), through which the National Statistician is accountable to Parliament. The board oversees the

Office for National Statistics The Office for National Statistics (ONS; ) is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, UK Parliament. Overview The ONS is responsible fo ...

, following the "independence" which it obtained from ministers in the

Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 The Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 (c18) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which established the UK Statistics Authority (UKSA). It came into force in April 2008. Sir Michael Scholar was appointed as the first Chai ...

. It also has a duty to assess all UK government statistics from other departments. Following

Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. Previously, he was Chancellor of the Ex ...

's announcement of new constitutional arrangements for public appointments, Sir Michael became, on 18 July 2007, the first such nominee to appear for vetting before the House of Commons Treasury Committee and to have his nomination subject to confirmation by the House. Sir Michael officially resigned from the post on 31 March 2012; he was succeeded by Sir Andrew Dilnot, CBE.

Family

Scholar's eldest son, Sir Thomas Whinfield Scholar (GCB), is a civil servant who was appointed Chief of Staff at 10 Downing Street when

became

prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

. He has since returned to

as a managing director and is the government's representative on the board of Northern Rock following its

nationalization Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization contrasts with p ...

. Two younger sons are Richard and John, the latter being a lecturer in English Literature at the University of Reading who also worked at the Treasury.

External links

St John's College, OxfordUniversity of Oxford Annual Review 2000-01

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scholar, Michael 1942 births Living people Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge Academics of the University of Leicester Harvard University faculty University of California, Berkeley faculty Fellows of St John's College, Cambridge Fellows of St John's College, Oxford Permanent Under-Secretaries of State for Wales Permanent Under-Secretaries of State for Trade and Industry Civil servants in HM Treasury Private secretaries in the British Civil Service Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Pro-vice-chancellors of the University of Oxford People educated at St Olave's Grammar School Presidents of St John's College, Oxford