Sir David John Stowell Hancock, KCB (27 March 1934 – 24 September 2013) was an English civil servant. Educated at

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the f ...

, he entered the civil service in 1957 as an official in the

Board of Trade The Board of Trade is a British government body concerned with commerce and industry, currently within the Department for International Trade. Its full title is The Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council appointed for the consideration of ...

; he moved to HM Treasury in 1959 and spent 1965–66 as a Harkness Fellow at the Brookings Institution and Harvard University. He was private secretary to the

Chancellor of the Exchequer The chancellor of the Exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and head of His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, the Chancellor is ...

from 1968 to 1970, then financial and economic counsellor to the permanent representative to the

European Communities The European Communities (EC) were three international organizations that were governed by the same set of institutions. These were the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom), and the ...

until 1974. He was at the Treasury until 1982, when he was made head of the European Secretariat at the

Cabinet Office The Cabinet Office is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for supporting the prime minister and Cabinet. It is composed of various units that support Cabinet committees and which co-ordinate the delivery of government objecti ...

. From 1983 to 1989, he was

Permanent Secretary A permanent secretary (also known as a principal 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 ...

of the Department of Education and Science, overseeing the introduction of

GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a particular subject, taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. State schools in Scotland use the Scottish Qualifications Certificate instead. Private sc ...

s and the drafting and implementation of the

Education Reform Act 1988 The Education Reform Act 1988 is widely regarded as the most important single piece of education legislation in England and Wales since the 'Butler' Education Act 1944. Provisions The main provisions of the Education Reform Act are as follows: ...

.Peter Wilby
"Sir David Hancock obituary"
'' The Guardian'', 29 September 2013. Retrieved 20 September 2021.

References

1934 births 2013 deaths English civil servants Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Knights Companion of the Order of the Bath {{England-politician-stub