The Permanent Under-Secretary of State for the Cabinet Office, known informally as the Cabinet Office Permanent Secretary, is the second-most senior
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 ...
of 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 ...
. It was conventionally joined with the positions of
Cabinet Secretary and
Head of the Home Civil Service
His Majesty's Home Civil Service, also known as His Majesty's Civil Service, the Home Civil Service, or colloquially as the Civil Service is the permanent bureaucracy or secretariat of Crown employees that supports His Majesty's Government, which ...
. This triple role was disbanded in January 2012 after
Gus O'Donnell
Augustine Thomas O'Donnell, Baron O'Donnell, (born 1 October 1952) is a former British senior civil servant and economist, who between 2005 and 2011 (under three Prime Ministers) served as the Cabinet Secretary, the highest official in the Bri ...
retired.
Due to the Cabinet Office having expanded and taken on new responsibilities since the 2010 election, including cutting costs and driving efficiency across government, it is led by a dedicated Permanent Secretary.
Cabinet Office News
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The current Permanent Secretary of the Cabinet Office is Alex Chisholm
Alex Chisholm (born 2 January 1968) is a British civil servant and regulator, who has served as Cabinet Office Permanent Secretary and the chief operating officer of the United Kingdom's Civil Service since April 2020.
He was previously the pe ...
.
List of Permanent Secretaries
*Ian Watmore
Ian Charles Watmore (born 5 July 1958) is a British management consultant and former senior civil servant under three prime ministers, serving from October 2016 as the First Civil Service Commissioner.
Early life and business career
Born in Cr ...
(January – June 2012)
* Sir Richard Heaton (August 2012 – August 2015)
* Sir John Manzoni (August 2015 – April 2020) - Also Chief Executive of the Civil Service
*Alex Chisholm
Alex Chisholm (born 2 January 1968) is a British civil servant and regulator, who has served as Cabinet Office Permanent Secretary and the chief operating officer of the United Kingdom's Civil Service since April 2020.
He was previously the pe ...
(April 2020 – present) - Also Chief Operating Officer for the Civil Service
See also
*Number 10 Downing Street
10 Downing Street in London, also known colloquially in the United Kingdom as Number 10, is the official residence and executive office of the first lord of the treasury, usually, by convention, the prime minister of the United Kingdom. Along wi ...
*Civil Service
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 ...
References
External links
Cabinet OfficeCivil Service Permanent Secretaries
{{Downing Street, state=collapsed
Politics of the United Kingdom
Cabinet Office (United Kingdom)
Civil Service (United Kingdom)