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.
Dame Deirdre Mary Hutton, is a British public servant, termed by The Daily Telegraph as "Queen of the Quangos" and "The great quango hopper". She was the chair of the UK's Civil Aviation Authority from 2009 to 2020.
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 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.
The Department for Education (DfE) is a ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for child protection, child services, education, apprenticeships, and wider skills in England.
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.
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 who served as Minister of State at the Cabinet Office from September 2022 to July 2024. A member of the Conservative Party, she 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.
Sir James Alan Harra, is a British civil servant who has been First Permanent Secretary and Chief Executive of HM Revenue and Customs since October 2019, in succession to Sir Jonathan Thompson.
Sir Jonathan Michael Thompson, is a British civil servant who served as the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Defence (MOD) from September 2012 until April 2016, when he succeeded Dame Lin Homer as Permanent Secretary and Chief Executive of HM Revenue and Customs. He became Chief Executive of the Financial Reporting Council after leaving HMRC in Autumn 2019.
The Honours Committee is a committee within the Cabinet Office of the Government of the United Kingdom formed to review nominations for national honours for merit, exceptional achievement or service. Twice yearly the Honours Committee submits formal recommendations for the British monarch's New Years and Birthday Honours. Members of the Honours Committee—which comprises a main committee and nine subcommittees in speciality areas—research and vet nominations for national awards, including knighthoods and the Order of the British Empire.
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 Sharon Michele White, Lady Chote, is a British businesswoman who served as the sixth Chairman of the John Lewis Partnership, having previously held a variety of roles in the Civil Service.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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. 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.
