Last week, it emerged that Cummings told a meeting of political aides that “a hard rain is going to fall” on the civil service, while the appointment a few weeks ago of Sedwill joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in 1989, serving in Egypt, Iraq, Cyprus and Pakistan. We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

For example, the UK’s National Health Service acknowledged, as part of its response to COVID-19, that […] Between 2014 and 2016, she was a member of the Revo Customer Experience Committee and an ACE Awards judge. General secretary Dave Penman said: “Sir Mark Sedwill has been one of the outstanding public servants of his generation, serving the country’s interests at home and abroad as a diplomat, weapons inspector, permanent secretary and ultimately Cabinet Secretary. If you are a government leader, or one of the millions of people employed in the public sector globally, these last 100 days have probably been the most challenging of your career. Defence chief, former Cabinet Secretary, Information Commissioner, UK statistics and NHSX bosses give evidence 21 July 2020 A health chief at the centre of the Salisbury poisonings crisis is one of several high-profile witnesses when the House of Lords Public Services Committee takes evidence. Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister … In a The briefings, he said, were a “self-defeating and corrosive tactic”, and a “cowardly one” given that Sedwill is unable to publicly respond.Number 10 had “won this particular round of power play”, he continued ­– but running government and delivering public services “requires the talent and enthusiasm of thousands of leaders and hundreds of thousands of committed public servants, all of whom look to ministers, and ultimately the prime minister, for leadership and inspiration.“No CEO or chair of a private company would act in this way and expect their organisation to thrive.

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.

Maurice Hankey, the first to hold the position, did so for no less than 22 years, from 1916 to 1938. Those are legitimate tests for the successful candidate to pass.But in a government already suffering from groupthink, ministers need a cabinet secretary prepared to challenge their assumptions, not simply pander to them.Even more importantly, the cabinet secretary is also the guardian of A former cabinet secretary, Burke Trend, was reputed to take the requirement of civil service non-partisanship so far that he never voted in elections.Most civil servants vote but know they should keep their political views separate from their official lives. That has to apply – and be seen to apply – to the cabinet secretary appointed to lead them.The UK in a Changing Europe uses cookies to improve your browsing experience. You can find out more about which cookies we use in our Sir Mark Sedwill, who has served as Cabinet secretary and head of the UK civil service since 2018, and national security adviser (NSA) since 2017, is to stand down in September as part of a major Whitehall shake-up orchestrated by the PM’s chief aide Dominic Cummings and minister for the Cabinet Office Michael Gove.The news comes after the publication of a series of anonymous briefings to the press against Sedwill, including accusations that he had failed to get a grip on the coronavirus crisis. Lord Kerslake, a former head of the civil service, said the “recent hostile briefing against Sir Mark has been completely unacceptable and undermined a key role in government at a time of great national crisis”.“I fear… that the civil service is being made the fall guy for mistakes made in the handling of the pandemic. The Cabinet Secretary is arguably India's most powerful bureaucrat. The modern cabinet secretary has to cover a number of different functions. He later became ambassador to Afghanistan before serving as NATO’s senior civilian representative in the country, and was the FCO’s political director in 2012-13.Prior to being appointed national security adviser under Theresa May in April 2017 and Cabinet secretary in 2018, Sedwill spent four years as Home Office permanent secretary.Mia is a journalist and editor with a background in covering commercial property, having been market reports and supplements editor at trade title Property Week and deputy editor of Shopping Centre magazine, now known as Retail Destination. Instead, some of the candidates who might have thrown their hat in the ring appear to have thought better of it.It is not hard to understand why. From February 2006 onwards, the post became permanent by the salary level was changed to D6, which is lower than Permanent Secretaries in the then 11 bureaux.The Cabinet Secretariat is under the direct charge of the Prime Minister.

The Cabinet Secretariat is responsible for the administration of the Government of India (Transaction of Business) Rules, 1961 and the Government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules 1961, facilitating smooth transaction of business in Ministries/Departments of the Government by ensuring adherence to these rules.