A permanent under-secretary of state, known informally as a permanent secretary, is the most senior

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

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 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 ...

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 The Transparency of Lobbying, Non-party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Act 2014 is an Acts of Parliament in the United Kingdom, Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom introduced in July 2013. The bill was sponsored by the Cabinet Off ...

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 A cabinet secretary is usually a senior official (typically a civil servant) who provides services and advice to a cabinet of ministers as part of the Cabinet Office. In many countries, the position can have considerably wider functions and powe ...

, Chief Executive of His Majesty's Revenue and Customs, Chief Medical Officer, Director of Public Prosecutions, First Parliamentary Counsel,

Government Chief Scientific Adviser The UK Government Chief Scientific Adviser (GCSA) is the personal adviser on science and technology-related activities and policies to the Prime Minister and the Cabinet. They are also the head of the Government Office for Science. Many indiv ...

, 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 The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister Advice (constitutional law), advises the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, sovereign on the exercise of much of the Royal prerogative ...

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 In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

for ensuring that the department appropriately spends money granted by Parliament. Permanent secretaries are thus frequently called for questioning by the

Public Accounts Committee A public accounts committee (PAC) is a committee within a legislature whose role is to study public audits, invite ministers, permanent secretaries or other ministry officials to the committee for questioning, and report on their findings subseque ...

and select committees of the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

. 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 Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn (3 April 1925 – 14 March 2014), known between 1960 and 1963 as Viscount Stansgate, was a British Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician and political activist who served as a Cabinet of the United Kingdom, Cabine ...

when he was

Secretary of State for Industry The secretary of state for business and trade (business secretary), is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with responsibility for the Department for Business and Trade. The incumbent is a member of the Cabinet of th ...

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 ('beyond the powers') is a Latin phrase used in law to describe an act that requires legal authority but is done without it. Its opposite, an act done under proper authority, is ('within the powers'). Acts that are may equivalently be termed ...

''. 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

, currently Sir Chris Wormald; he is normally also the

Head of the Home Civil Service In the United Kingdom, the Civil Service is the permanent bureaucracy or Secretariat (administrative office), secretariat of Crown employees that supports His Majesty's Government, the Scottish Government and the Welsh Government, which is led ...

. The holder of this office is distinct from other officials of permanent secretary rank within the Cabinet Office. By convention, 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 ...

Minister for the Civil Service In the Government of the United Kingdom, the Minister for the Civil Service is responsible for regulations regarding His Majesty's Civil Service, the role of which is to assist the governments of the United Kingdom in formulating and implementi ...

and as such makes regulations regarding the service and has authority over it. These duties are delegated to the

Minister for the Cabinet Office The Minister for the Cabinet Office is a position in the Cabinet Office of the United Kingdom. The minister is responsible for the work and policies of the Cabinet Office, and since February 2022, reports to the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lanc ...

Honours

Permanent secretaries are usually created Knights/Dames Commander of the

Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by King George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. Recipients of the Order are usually senior British Armed Forces, military officers or senior Civil Service ...

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 The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is the ministry of foreign affairs and a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the government of the United Kingdom. The office was created on 2 ...

are usually created Knights/Dames Commander of the

Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince of Wales (the future King George IV), while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III ...

instead). The most senior permanent secretaries, such as the

, may be created Knights/Dames Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath, and even be given a

life peerage In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of the D ...

after retirement. For salary comparison purposes, the permanent secretary is deemed broadly equivalent to a

general A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

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.

References

{{Reflist

External links