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 is led by a cabinet of ministers chosen by the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, as well as two of the three devolved administrations: the Scottish Government and the Welsh Government, but not the Northern Ireland Executive.
A cabinet secretary is usually a senior official who provides services and advice to a cabinet of ministers as part of the Cabinet Office. In many countries, the position can have considerably wider functions and powers, including general responsibility for the entire civil service.
A permanent 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 service chief executives of government departments or ministries, who generally hold their position for a number of years at a ministry as distinct from the changing political secretaries of state to whom they report and provide advice.
Dublin Castle was the centre of the government of Ireland under English and later British rule. "Dublin Castle" is used metonymically to describe British rule in Ireland. The Castle held only the executive branch of government and the Privy Council of Ireland, both appointed by the British government. The Castle did not hold the judicial branch, which was centred on the Four Courts, or the legislature, which met at College Green till the Act of Union 1800 and thereafter at Westminster.
Augustine Thomas O'Donnell, Baron O'Donnell, is a former British senior civil servant and economist, who between 2005 and 2011 served as the Cabinet Secretary, the highest official in the British Civil Service.
Sir Kenneth Ronald Stowe was a senior British civil servant. He was Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister 1975 to 1979, and the Permanent Under-Secretary of State of the Northern Ireland Office 1979 to 1981. From 1981 to 1987 he was Permanent Secretary of the Department of Health and Social Security. He was made a CB in 1977, CVO in 1979, and KCB in 1980 and a GCB in 1986.
Sir David Robert Bell is a public policy analyst who is Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive of the University of Sunderland. He was previously Vice-Chancellor of the University of Reading for six years. Prior to that, he was Permanent Secretary at the Department for Education and its predecessor departments from January 2006 until 2012. Before that he was Chief Inspector of Schools at the Office for Standards in Education from 2002.
The Northern Ireland Civil Service is the permanent bureaucracy of employees that supports the Northern Ireland Executive, the devolved government of Northern Ireland.
Sir Brian Geoffrey Bender was a British civil servant, who served as the Permanent Secretary of three departments, two of which were re-organised whilst he was at their helm.
Sir Thomas Whinfield Scholar is a British civil servant who served as Permanent Secretary to the Treasury until 8 September 2022.
Sir John Anthony Chilcot was a British civil servant.
Mark Philip Sedwill, Baron Sedwill, is a British diplomat and senior civil servant who served as Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Home Civil Service to Prime Ministers Theresa May and Boris Johnson from 2018 to 2020. He also served as the United Kingdom National Security Adviser from 2017 to 2020. He was previously the United Kingdom's Ambassador to Afghanistan from 2009 to 2010 and the NATO Senior Civilian Representative in Afghanistan in 2010. He was the Permanent Under-Secretary of State at the Home Office from February 2013 to April 2017.
Sir Martin Eugene Donnelly, is a British former civil servant. He was Permanent Secretary of the Department for International Trade, until leaving the Civil Service on 24 March 2017.
Sir Jonathan Phillips, is a retired British civil servant who served as Warden of Keble College, Oxford from 2010 to 2022.
Sir John Alexander Manzoni is a British senior civil servant and business executive, who served as chief executive of the civil service and the Cabinet Office Permanent Secretary from 2014 to 2020.
Simon Case is a British civil servant who is the current Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Home Civil Service since 9 September 2020, succeeding Sir Mark Sedwill.
There has been a Head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service since Sir Ernest Clark was appointed the first holder of that office in 1921. As of 2017 and according to the Executive Office, the Head of the 23,500-people strong NICS "has primary leadership responsibility for creating, developing and sustaining the NICS as an organisation which serves the devolved administration, the institutions of government and the people of Northern Ireland through the provision of high quality, cost effective services." The incumbent is also Permanent Secretary of the Executive Office and Secretary to the Northern Ireland Executive, making the office-holder the "most senior adviser to the First Minister and the deputy First Minister".
Sir John Laughlin Semple, KCB is a retired civil servant who was Head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service between 1997 and 2000.
Sir William Alan Nield, GCMG, KCB was an English civil servant.
Jenny Pyper is a Northern Ireland civil servant. On 27 November 2020 she was appointed as Interim Head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service, taking up the position for eight months from 1 December, and succeeding David Sterling, who stepped down from the role in August 2020. Pyper previously served as Chief Executive of the Utility Regulator.
