The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy which,by legislation and convention,operates as a unitary parliamentary democracy. A hereditary monarch,currently King Charles III,serves as head of state while the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom,currently Sir Keir Starmer since 2024,serves as the elected head of government.
In the United Kingdom,the Civil Service is the permanent bureaucracy or secretariat of Crown employees that supports His Majesty's Government,the Scottish Government and the Welsh 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 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.
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.
The Government Legal Department is the largest in-house legal organisation in the United Kingdom's Government Legal Profession.
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.
Sir Mark Ivan Rogers is a British former senior civil servant who was the Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the European Union from 4 November 2013 until his resignation on 3 January 2017.
Sir Thomas Whinfield Scholar is a British civil servant who served as Permanent Secretary to the Treasury from 2016 to 2022. He was previously the prime minister's adviser on European and global issues in the Cabinet Office from 2013 to 2016. He has been a director of the nationalised bank Northern Rock,and served as chief of staff for Gordon Brown.
David George Hamilton Frost,Baron Frost is a former British diplomat,civil servant and politician who served as a Minister of State at the Cabinet Office between March and December 2021. Frost was Chief Negotiator of Task Force Europe from January 2020 until his resignation in December 2021.
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. His roles included permanent secretary of the Department for Business,Innovation and Skills (2010–2016),and of the Department for International Trade (2016–2017).
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.
Sir Philip McDougall Rutnam,is a British former civil servant who served as Permanent Under-Secretary of State at the Home Office from 2017 until his resignation on 29 February 2020. Prior to this,he was the Permanent Secretary at the Department for Transport for five years and also Acting Permanent Secretary at the Department for Business,Innovation and Skills in 2010.
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 Antonia Rebecca Caroline Angharad Catherine Romeo is a British civil servant. She is currently serving as the permanent secretary at the Ministry of Justice and Clerk of the Crown in Chancery. She was the permanent secretary at the Department for International Trade and before that,the British consul-general in New York for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and concurrently director-general for economic and commercial affairs in the USA.
The Department for Exiting the European Union was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for overseeing negotiations relating to Brexit,and establishing the future relationship between the United Kingdom and the EU. It was formed by the Prime Minister,Theresa May,in July 2016,in the wake of the referendum vote to leave the European Union. The department was dissolved on 31 January 2020 when Brexit took effect.
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.
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.
