The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry,rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences,work with charitable and welfare organisations,and public service outside the civil service. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions,the most senior two of which make the recipient either a knight if male or a dame if female. There is also the related British Empire Medal,whose recipients are affiliated with,but not members of,the order.
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by King George I on 18 May 1725. Recipients of the Order are usually senior military officers or senior civil servants,and the monarch awards it on the advice of His Majesty's Government. The name derives from an elaborate medieval ceremony for preparing a candidate to receive his knighthood,of which ritual bathing was an element. While not all knights went through such an elaborate ceremony,knights so created were known as "knights of the Bath".
Dame Susan Jane Owen is a former British civil servant,economist and former academic. She served as the Permanent Secretary for the Department for Digital,Culture,Media and Sport from October 2013 until her retirement in March 2019.
Dame Linda Margaret Homer,is a retired British civil servant who served as chief executive of HM Revenue and Customs between 2012 and 2016.
Sir Jonathan Andrew de Sievrac Stephens,KCB is a retired British civil servant who was Permanent Secretary at the Northern Ireland Office between 2014 and 2020,and the Permanent Secretary of the Department for Culture,Media and Sport between 2006 and 2013. On his retirement,he was replaced as Permanent Secretary of the Northern Ireland Office by Madeleine Alessandri.
Dame Juliet Louise Wheldon DCB,QC was a British civil servant,latterly the legal adviser to Mervyn King,the Governor of the Bank of England. From July 2000 until 2006 she was the first British woman to serve as Treasury Solicitor and Head of the Government Legal Service. In 2008 she was named as one of The Times Law 100.
Dame Jilian Norma Matheson is the former National Statistician of the United Kingdom.
Dame Ursula Brennan is a retired British civil servant and a former Permanent Secretary at the United Kingdom's Ministry of Justice where she was also the Clerk of the Crown in Chancery.
Dame Una O'Brien DCB is a British former civil servant,who served as the Permanent Secretary at the Department of Health. She became a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in the New Year honours list 2011,and a Dame Commander of the Order of the Bath (DCB) in the 2015 Queen's Birthday Honours list.
Sir Richard Nicholas Heaton,KCB is a barrister and former senior British civil servant who was the Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Justice and Clerk of the Crown in Chancery from September 2015 until resigning in August 2020. He had previously served as Cabinet Office Permanent Secretary,and First Parliamentary Counsel. He currently serves as Warden of Robinson College,Cambridge.
Dame Melanie Henrietta Dawes is a British economist and administrator. Since February 2020 she has been Chief Executive of Ofcom. She was previously the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Housing,Communities and Local Government,and before that worked at HM Treasury,HM Revenue and Customs,and in the Cabinet Office. She is a Trustee of the Patchwork Foundation,founded by Harris Bokhari.
Dame Clare Moriarty DCB is the Chief Executive of Citizens Advice and a former British civil servant,who served as permanent secretary of the Department for Environment,Food and Rural Affairs between 2015 and 2019 and as Permanent Secretary of the Department for Exiting the European Union (DExEU) from March 2019 until January 2020. In November 2017,she was appointed the first civil service “faith and belief”champion,to represent all faiths and beliefs and promote interfaith dialogue. After leaving the Civil Service when DExEU was closed,she took up a new role as chief executive of Citizens Advice in April 2021.
Sir Jonathan Guy Jones is a British lawyer,appointed in March 2014 and serving until his resignation on 8 September 2020 as HM Procurator General,Treasury Solicitor and Head of the Government Legal Service,and so the Permanent Secretary of the Government Legal Department.
Dame Valerie Patricia Marie Strachan,is a retired British civil servant. From 1993 to 2000,she was Chair of HM Customs and Excise. Since February 2012,she has been a member of the Judicial Appointments Commission.
Dame Bernadette Mary Kelly,is a British senior civil servant who has served as permanent secretary for the Department for Transport since 18 April 2017.
General Dame Sharon Patricia Moffat Nesmith,is a senior British Army officer. She has been Vice-Chief of the Defence Staff since June 2024,having served as Deputy Chief of the General Staff from August 2022 to May 2024. She became the first woman to command a British Army brigade in 2014,the first woman to command a British division-level formation in 2021,the first woman to be promoted to lieutenant general in the British Army in 2022 and the first to be promoted to general in 2024.
Sir James Christopher Jenkins,KCB,KC (Hon) is a British lawyer and retired parliamentary draftsman.
Sarah Elizabeth Healey is a British civil servant,appointed as Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Housing,Communities and Local Government in February 2023. Previously,she was Permanent Secretary at the Department for Digital,Culture,Media and Sport (DCMS).
Dame Brenda Mary King,Mrs Sullivan is the Attorney General for Northern Ireland. Prior to her appointment in 2020,Ms King was First Legislative Counsel in Executive Office,leading the specialist office responsible for the drafting of Northern Ireland Assembly Bills.
A permanent under-secretary of state,known informally as a permanent secretary,is the most senior civil servant of a ministry in the United Kingdom,charged with running the department on a day-to-day basis. Permanent secretaries are appointed under a scheme in which the prime minister has the final say in the recruitment process;since 2015,the PM chooses directly from a list created by the Civil Service Commissioners rather than only having a veto over the Commissioners' preferred candidate.
