In the United Kingdom,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.
The Home Office (HO),also known as the Home Department,is a ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for immigration,security,and law and order. As such,it is responsible for policing in England and Wales,fire and rescue services in England,Border Force,visas and immigration,and the Security Service (MI5). It is also in charge of government policy on security-related issues such as drugs,counterterrorism,and immigration. It was formerly responsible for His Majesty's Prison Service and the National Probation Service,but these have been transferred to the Ministry of Justice.
The Scottish Government is the executive arm of the devolved government of Scotland. It was formed in 1999 as the Scottish Executive following the 1997 referendum on Scottish devolution. Its areas for responsibility of decision making and domestic policy in the country include the economy,education,healthcare,justice and the legal system,rural affairs,housing,the crown estate,the environment,the fire service,equal opportunities,the transportation network,and tax,amongst others.
The Government of the United Kingdom is divided into departments that each have responsibility,according to the government,for putting government policy into practice. There are currently 24 ministerial departments,20 non-ministerial departments,and 422 agencies and other public bodies,for a total of 465 departments.
His Majesty's Revenue and Customs is a non-ministerial department of the UK Government responsible for the collection of taxes,the payment of some forms of state support,the administration of other regulatory regimes including the national minimum wage and the issuance of national insurance numbers. HMRC was formed by the merger of the Inland Revenue and HM Customs and Excise,which took effect on 18 April 2005. The department's logo is the Tudor Crown enclosed within a circle.
Sir Matthew John Rycroft is a British civil servant and diplomat serving as Permanent Under-Secretary of State at the Home Office since 2020,appointed following the resignation of Sir Philip Rutnam. Rycroft previously served as Permanent Secretary at the Department for International Development (DFID) from 2018 to 2020 and as the Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York from 2015 to 2018.
Centrex,the common name of the Central Police Training and Development Authority (CPTDA),was established under Part 4 of the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001,and was the primary means of police training in England and Wales. It was based at Bramshill House,formerly known as the Police Staff College,Bramshill. Centrex had the responsibility for many aspects of police training and development. There had been a move away from running police training centres to running police trainee/initial probationer courses in-house under the auspices of Centrex. Centrex was replaced by the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) on 1 April 2007.
The Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Defence,also called the Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Defence,is the permanent secretary at the Ministry of Defence. The office holder is the government's principal civilian adviser on Defence matters. The office holder is a member of the Defence Council and the Defence Board. They are the MOD Principal Accounting Officer,and are called to give evidence to the Defence Select Committee.
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.
The National Security Adviser (NSA) is a senior official in the Cabinet Office,based in Whitehall,who serves as the principal adviser to the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Cabinet of the United Kingdom on all national security issues. The NSA post was created in May 2010 as part of the reforms that also saw the creation of the National Security Council. There have been six holders of the office to date,of whom two served more than three years in the post.
Infrastructure UK (IUK) was a division of HM Treasury within the Treasury's Public Services and Growth Directorate,which advised the UK government on the long-term infrastructure needs of the UK and provided commercial expertise to support major projects and programmes between 2010 and 2016.
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 Simon Case.
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 for his perceived pro-European stance. 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.
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.
The Permanent Under-Secretary of State at the Home Office is the permanent secretary at the Home Office,the most senior civil servant in the department,charged with running its affairs on a day-to-day basis.
Peter Thomas Marshall Hill is a British civil servant and a former political advisor. He was appointed CEO of the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in September 2019,having previously been Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister.
Shona Hunter Dunn is the CEO of the First Aid charity St John Ambulance and a former British civil servant,serving from October 2018 to May 2024 as the Second Permanent Secretary at the Home Office.
Christian Philip Hollier Turner is a British diplomat serving as Political Director of the Foreign,Commonwealth and Development Office since 2023. He previously served as British High Commissioner to Pakistan from 2019 to 2023.
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.
