New Second Permanent Secretary, HM Treasury appointed
Current Director General for public services Sharon White will take up her post next week.
Sharon White has been appointed as the new Second Permanent Secretary responsible for the Treasury’s finance ministry functions.
Currently Director General for public services at HM Treasury, she will replace Tom Scholar, who is moving to the Cabinet Office as the Prime Minister’s Adviser for Europe and Global Issues and Head of the European and Global Issues Secretariat on 1 November.
As Second Permanent Secretary to the Treasury, with responsibility for the Treasury’s finance ministry functions, Sharon will have overall responsibility for managing the UK’s public finances, including implementing the ongoing fiscal consolidation.
She will continue to be part of the department’s Executive Management Board, and part of the collective leadership of the Treasury.
Sharon White brings a wealth of experience to the role. Before returning to the Treasury in late 2011 to lead the White Review of the Treasury’s management response to the financial crisis, she was formerly a Director General at the Ministry of Justice and the Department for International Development.
She joined the Civil Service in 1989 and worked at the Treasury in the early 90’s. She spent time in Washington at the British Embassy and in the Number 10 policy unit. She then worked on international development at the World Bank before taking the role of policy director at the Department for International Development. She returned to domestic policy at the Department for Work and Pensions and the Ministry of Justice, before rejoining the Treasury.
Sharon White is married to Robert Chote, who has been the Chairman of the Office for Budget Responsibility since September 2010.
She will take up her new post next week.