Permanent Secretary, Office for the Prime Minister and Cabinet

The Office for the Prime Minister and Cabinet (OPMC) supports the Prime Minister and Cabinet to ensure the effective running of Government. The OPMC, which includes No.10 and No.10 North alongside our wider policy teams, in partnership with HM Treasury, sets direction for the rest of the Government to deliver.

The OPMC is responsible for:

• delivering the objectives of the Prime Minister, the First Secretary of State and the Cabinet through priority setting, translating political mandates into action, running taskforces to address policy challenges, and managing critical stakeholder communications;
• supporting collective Government, to ensure the effective development, coordination, agreement and implementation of policy;
• delivering good growth in every part of the United Kingdom, via No10 North, working with local leaders to drive a place-based approach to policy;
• holding departments and organisations to account for delivery of the Governments priorities and achieving outcomes for citizens;
• setting certain policies or providing advice on matters of state, including propriety and ethics, constitution and the Union;
• rewiring the state, and leading and reforming a high-performing, efficient and innovative Civil Service, including on people and AI to transform public services, and improving public procurement;
• coordinating our approach to cross-departmental alignment on national security, European and global affairs, supporting the National Security Council and the Joint Intelligence Organisation, and leading the Governments response to crises; and
• sponsoring a number of delivery agencies that provide services to the rest of government and enable the delivery of an efficient and effective state.

Alongside OPMC (c.3000 staff), the Permanent Secretary is also principal Accounting Officer for the whole Cabinet Office group, which includes OneGov (c.2,000 staff), the National School for Government, Government Property and Commercial agencies, and other expert ALBs and NDPBs (a further c.5000 staff).

Our main offices are in London, with a second headquarters in Glasgow and staff based around the country, including Manchester (No10 North). The department is also supported by a number of advisory non-departmental bodies and agencies.

The role holder will be based in either Manchester or London, with regular travel required between the two locations. It is expected that the post holder will spend at least 2 days a week in Manchester.

The post holder reports to the Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service, Dame Antonia Romeo.

The role of the Permanent Secretary is to:

• Ministerial and strategic leadership: Be principal adviser to the First Secretary of State, providing support, counsel, and challenge in setting overall strategy and policy, ensuring solutions are evidence-based, cost-effective, achievable, and aligned with departmental needs.
• Oversee delivery of Ministerial priorities: Maintain a sharp focus on delivering Ministerial priorities across the OPMC, by setting clear strategic direction, aligning resources, and driving effective execution.
• OPMC leadership: The Permanent secretary will build and lead OPMC as a single department, working collectively to deliver the PM and the Cabinets strategic objectives, including good growth in every postcode. They will provide strong leadership to OPMC staff, role-modelling Civil Service values while fostering continuous improvement, capability building, and a culture of high performance and excellent delivery. While the DG heads of Secretariats and DGs of PCG and AI Taskforce and PPS/PM will continue to report directly to the Cabinet Secretary, the Permanent Secretary will lead and run OPMC across all groups and therefore be responsible for ensuring the new structures to work as a strong, cohesive and strategic centre, in support of the Cabinet Secretary, to deliver for the Prime Minister, First Secretary of State and Ministers.
• Cross-cutting policy: Provide senior leadership to our DG groups leading on some of the highest profile cross-Government policy challenges, such as the set up of the taskforces, or efficiency initiatives and public sector implementation of priorities such as the Duty of Candour. The Permanent Secretary will enable our high-performing teams to continue to deliver by supporting senior cross-government brokering; aligning and cohering work across the department; and providing counsel and challenge to our DG leaders.
• Network and convening power: Build and maintain senior stakeholder networks, and convening Permanent Secretaries to foster cross-departmental alignment and support.
• Complex casework & operations: Lead the response to sensitive operational, litigation, and human resources matters across Government, in support of the Head of the Civil Service.
• Financial governance and accountability: The Permanent Secretary will act as Principal Accounting Officer for the Cabinet Office group, including the OPMC, OneGov, and other arms-length bodies and agencies, answerable to Parliament and HM Treasury for financial management, and ensuring adherence to Managing Public Money principles. Clive Maxwell is the Accounting Officer for OneGov.

The successful candidate must have a strong commitment to the Civil Service values of impartiality, honesty, integrity and objectivity, and you will be able demonstrate the essential criteria below:

• extremely well-developed political sensitivity, sharp intellect, and high personal impact to secure Ministerial confidence and deputise for the Cabinet Secretary, with a proven ability to handle sensitive, high-stakes cross-government issues and translate complex policy into sustainable delivery.
• confident and compassionate leadership skills to direct and inspire staff across the OPMC, and wider Civil Service, with experience leading people and organisations through periods of change, and through ambiguity. The role holder will be able to work with leadership (including the 2PS for OneGov and agency leaders) across the wider Cabinet Office group to collectively oversee a complex group of ALBs, agencies and non-departmental public bodies.
• credibility to convene and influence Permanent Secretary colleagues and wider public sector leaders, managing crucial relationships and working across boundaries to deliver successfully, including with HM Treasury to drive efficiency across government, and with Parliament to support effective scrutiny of government business through public select committee hearings and other means;
• Effective cross-departmental influence, with demonstrable experience of working across organisational boundaries to deliver priority projects, including working closely with HM Treasury and other departments to drive efficiency across Government; and,
• proven track record of driving performance and delivery, actively steering outcomes and fostering a high-performance culture while establishing robust governance frameworks.