Philip John Rycroft (born 22 May 1961) is a British

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

who served as the

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 ...

at the

Department for Exiting the European Union The Department for Exiting the European Union (DExEU; also known as the Department for Brexit or Brexit Department) was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for overseeing negotiations relating to Brexit, and establi ...

from 2017 to 2019.

Early life and education

Rycroft was born on 22 May 1961. He was educated at

The Leys School The Leys School is a co-educational independent school in Cambridge, England. It is a day and boarding school for about 574 pupils between the ages of eleven and eighteen, and a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference. Histo ...

, then an all-boys

independent school An independent school is independent in its finances and governance. Also known as private schools, non-governmental, privately funded, or non-state schools, they are not administered by local, state or national governments. In British Eng ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

. He studied at

Wadham College, Oxford Wadham College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is located in the centre of Oxford, at the intersection of Broad Street and Parks Road. Wadham College was founded in 1610 by Dorothy W ...

, graduating with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

(BA) degree: as per tradition, his BA was promoted to a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

(MA Oxon). He remained at the University of Oxford to undertake a

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...

(DPhil) degree. His

doctoral thesis A thesis ( : theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: ...

was titled "Church, chapel and community in Craven, 1764-1851", and was completed in 1988.

Career

Rycroft joined the

Scottish Office The Scottish Office was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom from 1885 until 1999, exercising a wide range of government functions in relation to Scotland under the control of the Secretary of State for Scotland. Following the e ...

in 1989. He took a number of roles in agriculture, including being seconded into the

Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

of Sir Leon Brittan in the European Commission from 1995–1997. With the passing of the

Scotland Act 1998 The Scotland Act 1998 (c. 46) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which legislated for the establishment of the devolved Scottish Parliament with tax varying powers and the Scottish Government (then Scottish Executive). It was on ...

, Rycroft moved to become Deputy Head of the new Scottish Executive's Policy Unit in 1999. Rycroft left the service in 2000 to work as Public Affairs Manager for Scottish & Newcastle plc., returning two years later as Head of the Schools Group for the Scottish Executive until 2006. He then worked as Head of the Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning Department for a year before being promoted to be the

Director-General A director general or director-general (plural: ''directors general'', ''directors-general'', ''director generals'' or ''director-generals'' ) or general director is a senior executive officer, often the chief executive officer, within a government ...

for Education at the Executive in 2007, during which time it became the Scottish Government. In 2009, Rycroft transferred back to work for the British government as Director-General for Business and Innovation at the

Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) was a UK government department created on 28 June 2007 to take over some of the functions of the Department of Education and Skills and of the Department of Trade and Industry. Its h ...

, later becoming Director-General for Innovation and Enterprise and Chief Executive of the

Better Regulation Executive The Better Regulation Executive is a part of the British Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. It is in charge of regulatory reform across the British Government. A forerunner of the Executive was the Better Regulation Commis ...

. In 2011 Rycroft again left the service, serving for a year as Director for Corporate Affairs at

Hutchison Whampoa Hutchison Whampoa Limited (HWL) was an investment holding company based in Hong Kong. It was a Fortune Global 500 company and one of the largest companies listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. HWL was an international corporation with a dive ...

. He then became the Director-General of the Deputy Prime Minister’s Office in 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 ...

in 2012, where he served until the

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

in May 2015. Thereafter he became the

Second Permanent Secretary A permanent secretary (also known as a principal secretary) is the most senior civil servant of a department or ministry charged with running the department or ministry's day-to-day activities. Permanent secretaries are the non-political civil s ...

and Head of the newly-formed UK Governance Group. As of September 2015, Rycroft was paid a salary of between £155,000 and £159,999, making him one of the 328 most highly paid people in the British public sector at that time. In 2016, Rycroft moved to the new

as its

, whilst retaining his role heading the UK Governance Group. In October 2017, when

Olly Robbins Sir Oliver Robbins (born 20 April 1975) is a former senior British civil servant who served as the Prime Minister's Europe Adviser and the chief Brexit negotiator from 2017 to 2019. He was a controversial figure among Brexit supporters. He pr ...

was moved to Brussels to personally negotiate with the European Commission, Rycroft became the Permanent Secretary. In March 2019, it was announced that Rycroft would take early retirement on 29 March 2019, the scheduled date for the UK to leave the European Union. He was replaced by Claire Moriarty.

Personal life

Rycroft is married with two sons. In the New Year Honours for 2014, Rycroft was appointed a

Companion of the Order of the Bath Companion may refer to: Relationships Currently * Any of several interpersonal relationships such as friend or acquaintance * A domestic partner, akin to a spouse * Sober companion, an addiction treatment coach * Companion (caregiving), a caregive ...

, "''For services to the UK's Devolved and Coalition Governments''".

References

External links

An official blog by Rycroft about devolution
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rycroft, Philip John 1961 births Living people People educated at The Leys School Alumni of Wadham College, Oxford Civil servants in the Scottish Office Civil servants in the Scottish Government Civil servants in the Cabinet Office Companions of the Order of the Bath Civil servants in the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills