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Cabinet Secretary (United Kingdom)
Head of the British Civil Service
Head of the British Civil Service
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| insignia | Coat of arms of the United Kingdom (2022, lesser arms).svg |
| insigniacaption | Royal Arms as used by His Majesty's Government |
| department | Cabinet Office |
| post | Cabinet Secretary |
| incumbent | Sir Chris Wormald |
| image | Sir Chris Wormald KCB.png |
| incumbentsince | 16 December 2024 |
| appointer | Prime Minister |
| inaugural | Sir Maurice Hankey |
| formation | 1916 |
| reports_to | Prime Minister |
| Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster | |
| termlength | At His Majesty's pleasure |
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
The cabinet secretary is the most senior civil servant in the United Kingdom and is based in the Cabinet Office. The person in this role acts as the senior policy adviser to the prime minister and Cabinet, and as the secretary to the Cabinet is responsible to all ministers for the efficient running of government. The role is currently occupied by Sir Chris Wormald.
Origin
The position of cabinet secretary was created in 1916 for Sir Maurice Hankey, when the existing secretariat of the Committee of Imperial Defence, headed by Hankey, became secretariat to a newly organised War Cabinet.{{cite web
Responsibilities
Civil Service
Since 1981{{cite book
Cabinet
The responsibilities of the job vary from time to time and depend very much on the personal qualities of both the prime minister and cabinet secretary of the day. In most cases the true influence of the cabinet secretary extends far beyond administrative matters, and reaches to the very heart of the decision-making process. For instance, the cabinet secretary is responsible for administering the Ministerial Code which governs the conduct of ministers (also known as the Rule Book and formerly Questions of Procedure for Ministers). In this duty the cabinet secretary may be asked to investigate leaks within government, and enforce Cabinet discipline. Unusually in a democracy, this gives the unelected cabinet secretary some authority over elected ministers (a situation satirised in the BBC sitcom Yes, Prime Minister), although the constitutional authority of the code is somewhat ambiguous.
Intelligence
The cabinet secretary is responsible for overseeing the intelligence services and their relationship to the government, though since 2002 this responsibility has been delegated to a full-time role (initially as Security and Intelligence Co-ordinator, now the National Security Adviser), with the cabinet secretary focussing on civil service reforms to help deliver the government's policy programme.
Appointment
Previously the Cabinet Secretary was appointed on the advice of the outgoing incumbent. The 2024 appointment process consisted of shortlisted candidates took "leadership assessments" and an interview chaired by the First Civil Service Commissioner Gisela Stuart, Brian McBride (Lead Non Executive Director MoD, and Non-Executive member of the Civil Service Senior Leadership Committee), Gus O’Donnell (former Cabinet Secretary) and Dame Sharon White (former Second Permanent Secretary at HM Treasury). The appointment will be made by the Prime Minister.
2011 restructuring
It was announced on 11 October 2011 that Gus O'Donnell would retire at the end of 2011, and following this the three roles then performed by the cabinet secretary would be split: the cabinet secretary would provide policy advice to the prime minister and Cabinet; the Head of the Civil Service would provide leadership for the whole civil service; and the permanent secretary would oversee the Cabinet Office. It was announced later that the officeholders would be Jeremy Heywood as cabinet secretary, Bob Kerslake as Head of the Civil Service, and Ian Watmore as permanent secretary at the Cabinet Office.
In July 2014 it was announced that Kerslake would step down and Heywood would take the title of head of the Civil Service with a chief executive of the Civil Service reporting to Heywood and holding Watmore's post at the Cabinet Office. Heywood's retirement on health grounds was announced on 24 October 2018, and he was replaced by Mark Sedwill. , Sir Chris Wormald is Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Home Civil Service and Cat Little is Cabinet Office Permanent Secretary and COO of the Civil Service; as such, the 2011 restructuring has been partially undone and two of O'Donnell's roles are again held by the same person, while the third has remained separate.
List of cabinet secretaries
| # | Portrait | Name | |
|---|---|---|---|
| (birth–death) | Term of office | Concurrent office(s) | Peerage |
| 1 | [[File:Lord ankey.jpg | 100px]] | |
| (1877–1963) | 1916 | 1938 | Clerk of the Privy Council |
| 2 | |||
| (1892–1969) | 1938 | 1946 | Head of the Home Civil Service |
| Permanent Secretary to the Treasury | |||
| 3 | [[File:Norman Brook, 1st Baron Normanbrook, in 1951.jpg | 100px]] | |
| (1902–1967) | 1947 | 1962 | Head of the Home Civil Service |
| Permanent Secretary to the Treasury | |||
| 4 | [[File:No image.svg | 100px]] | |
| (1914–1987) | 1963 | 1972 | |
| 5 | |||
| (1919–2008) | 1973 | 1979 | |
| 6 | [[File:Official portrait of Lord Armstrong of Ilminster crop 2.jpg | 100px]] | |
| (1927–2020) | 1979 | 1987 | Head of the Home Civil Service |
| 7 | [[File:Official portrait of Lord Butler of Brockwell crop 2.jpg | 100px]] | |
| (b. 1938) | 1988 | 1998 | Head of the Home Civil Service |
| 8 | [[File:Official portrait of Lord Wilson of Dinton crop 2, 2019.jpg | 100px]] | |
| (b. 1942) | 1998 | 2002 | Head of the Home Civil Service |
| 9 | [[File:Official portrait of Lord Turnbull crop 2, 2019.jpg | 100px]] | |
| (b. 1945) | 1 September 2002 | 1 March 2005 | Head of the Home Civil Service |
| 10 | [[File:Official portrait of Lord O'Donnell crop 2, 2021.jpg | 100px]] | |
| (b. 1952) | 1 March 2005 | 31 December 2011 | Head of the Home Civil Service |
| 11 | [[File:Sir Jeremy Heywood, Cabinet Secretary, January 2015 (cropped).jpg | 100px]] | |
| (1961–2018) | 1 January 2012 | 24 October 2018 | Head of the Home Civil Service |
| 12 | [[File:Mark Sedwill (cropped).jpg | 100px]] | |
| (b. 1964) | 24 October 2018 | 9 September 2020 | Head of the Home Civil Service |
| 13 | [[File:Simon Case (cropped).jpg | 100px]] | Simon Case |
| (b. 1978) | 9 September 2020 | 15 December 2024 | Head of the Home Civil Service |
| 14 | [[File:Sir Chris Wormald (cropped).png | 131x131px]] | Sir Chris Wormald |
| (b. 1968) | 16 December 2024 | Head of the Civil Service |
Timeline of cabinet secretaries
ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:12 PlotArea = top:10 bottom:100 right:130 left:20 AlignBars = late
DateFormat = yyyy Period = from:1915 till:2025 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:5 start:1915
Colors =
id:former value:rgb(0.5,0.5,0.5) legend: Former id:current value:rgb(1,0.25,0.25) legend: Current
Legend = columns:2 left:150 top:50 columnwidth:100
TextData = pos:(20,55) textcolor:black fontsize:M text:"Tenure:"
BarData = bar:Hankey bar:Bridges bar:Brook bar:Trend bar:Hunt bar:Armstrong bar:Butler bar:Wilson bar:Turnbull bar:ODonnell bar:Heywood bar:Sedwill bar:Case bar:Wormald
PlotData= width:5 align:left fontsize:S shift:(5,-4) anchor:till
bar:Hankey from: 1916 till: 1938 color:former text:"Maurice Hankey" bar:Bridges from: 1938 till: 1947 color:former text:"Edward Bridges" bar:Brook from: 1947 till: 1963 color:former text:"Norman Brook" bar:Trend from: 1963 till: 1973 color:former text:"Burke Trend" bar:Hunt from: 1973 till: 1979 color:former text:"John Hunt" bar:Armstrong from: 1979 till: 1988 color:former text:"Robert Armstrong" bar:Butler from: 1988 till: 1998 color:former text:"Robin Butler" bar:Wilson from: 1998 till: 2002 color:former text:"Richard Wilson" bar:Turnbull from: 2002 till: 2005 color:former text:"Andrew Turnbull" bar:ODonnell from: 2005 till: 2012 color:former text:"Gus O'Donnell" bar:Heywood from: 2012 till: 2018 color:former text:"Jeremy Heywood" bar:Sedwill from: 2018 till: 2020 color:former text:"Mark Sedwill" bar:Case from: 2020 till: 2024 color:former text:"Simon Case" bar: Wormald from: 2024 till: 2025 color:current text:"Chris Wormald"
References
References
- "Prime Minister appoints Sir Chris Wormald as new Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service Service".
- [https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/who-is-the-cabinet-secretary-and-how-are-they-appointed/]
- [https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/job-listing/cabinet-secretary-and-head-of-the-civil-service-cabinet-office-JV_IC2671300_KO0,47_KE48,62.htm?jl=1009468879239 Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service]
- HM Government. (11 October 2011). "Cabinet Secretary announces retirement". Number 10 website.
- Civil Service Live Network. "Kerslake to head the civil service with promise of 'visible leadership'".
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