The Scottish Government is the devolved government of Scotland. It was formed in 1999 as the Scottish Executive following the 1997 referendum on Scottish devolution.
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State is the lowest of three tiers of government minister in the UK government,immediately junior to a Minister of State,which is itself junior to a Secretary of State.
A private secretary (PS) is a civil servant in a governmental department or ministry,responsible to a secretary of state or minister;or a public servant in a royal household,responsible to a member of the royal family.
The work of the Scottish Government is carried out by Directorates,each headed by a Director. The Directorates are grouped into a number of Directorates-General families,each headed by a Director-General. However,the individual Directorates are the building blocks of the system. The Directorates are further broken down into "Divisions" and then by teams. Divisions usually consist of 25-50 people. There is no direct correspondence between the political responsibilities of the Ministers in the Scottish Government and the Directorates,although in some cases there is considerable overlap. The Directorates are also responsible for a number of government agencies and non-departmental public bodies. Some government work is also carried out by Executive Agencies such as Transport Scotland,who sit outside the Directorates structure,but are also staffed by civil servants
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.
Sir Thomas Whinfield Scholar is a British civil servant who served as Permanent Secretary to the Treasury until 8 September 2022.
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.
David Henry Rutley is a British politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Macclesfield since 2010. A member of the Conservative Party,has been Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Americas and Caribbean since October 2022.
Sir Robert John Devereux,KCB is a retired senior British civil servant,who served as Permanent Secretary for the Department for Transport from 2007 to 2011,and oversaw a new policy increasing the UK retirement age to 67 at the Department for Work and Pensions from 2011 until his retirement at 61 in January 2018.
Sir Oliver Robbins is a former senior British civil servant who served as the Prime Minister's Europe Adviser and the chief Brexit negotiator from 2017 to 2019. He was a controversial figure among Brexit supporters. He previously served as the Permanent Secretary at the Department for Exiting the European Union from July 2016 to September 2017,and as the Prime Minister's Advisor on Europe and Global Issues from June 2016 to July 2016. Since 2019,he has been an investment advisor at Goldman Sachs.
James Edward Bowler CB is a senior British civil servant currently serving as the Permanent Secretary to the Treasury since October 2022 having previously served as permanent secretary at the Department for International Trade since 2021. Before assuming this role,Bowler was the second permanent secretary at the Cabinet Office from 2020 to 2021 where he led the COVID Taskforce for the British Government. He was the Director General for Policy,Communication and Analysis at the Ministry of Justice from March to October 2020. Bowler is currently Trustee of the charity Police Now.
Lucy Jeanne Neville-Rolfe,Baroness Neville-Rolfe is a British businesswoman and politician serving as Minister of State at the Cabinet Office since September 2022. A member of the Conservative Party,she has served in ministerial positions under prime ministers David Cameron,Theresa May,Liz Truss,and Rishi Sunak. In December 2021,she was appointed by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to lead the statutory review into the state pension age.
Philip John Rycroft is a British civil servant who served as the Permanent Secretary at the Department for Exiting the European Union from 2017 to 2019.
The Economic and Domestic Affairs Secretariat (EDS) is a secretariat in the United Kingdom Cabinet Office.
Peter Hugh Gordon Schofield,CB is a senior British civil servant,currently serving as Permanent Secretary for the Department for Work and Pensions since January 2018.
Philip Wynn Owen,CB was a Member of the European Court of Auditors from January 2014 to January 2020. He was previously a British civil servant from 1981 to 2013.
Susanna Justine McGibbon is a barrister and senior British civil servant who currently serves as HM Procurator General,Treasury Solicitor and Head of the Government Legal Service,and so Permanent Secretary of the Government Legal Department. She previously served as Director General of the Government Legal Department and Director General of the Department for Work and Pensions' Legal Group.
Jeremy Mark Pocklington CB is a British civil servant who has served as Permanent Secretary of the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero since February 2023. He served as Permanent Secretary of the Department for Levelling Up,Housing and Communities (DLUHC) from March 2020 to February 2023. He was formerly Director General for Housing and Planning at the MHCLG,having served in that role from August 2018 until his appointment as Permanent Secretary at the MHCLG.
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. Similar offices,often employing different terms,exist in many other Westminster-style systems and in some other governments. In the United States,the equivalent position is a Deputy Secretary of an executive department,though British permanent secretaries are career civil servants.
