UK’s DG for civil service reform moves to Home Office
The UK government’s director-general for civil service reform, Oliver Robbins, has been appointed to the newly-created role of second permanent secretary for the Home Office.
At the Home Office, Robbins will have responsibility for immigration and free movement policy, and oversight of the borders, immigration and citizenship system, according to a Home Office release published today.
A Home Office spokesman said Robbins “will spend this week meeting officials and being briefed on key issues in his portfolio, before starting his role formally on Monday, 21 September.”
Global Government Forum understands that the Cabinet Office will announce Robbins’s replacement shortly.
Robbins said: “I’m delighted to be joining the Home Office and to be working on some of the government’s top priorities.
“I look forward to joining the team driving the response to borders and immigration challenges within the Home Office and across government.”
Home Office permanent secretary Mark Sedwill said: “I’m very pleased that Olly Robbins is joining the Home Office.
“I’m looking forward to working with Olly as we deliver the Department’s priorities to secure the UK border, control immigration and welcome the Syrian refugees we are resettling in the UK.”
Before taking up the post of DG for civil service reform at the Cabinet Office, Robbins was the deputy national security adviser to the prime minister – a Cabinet Office post he held for more than three years from July 2010.
Robbins also worked as principal private secretary to former prime minister Tony Blair and then Gordon Brown from July 2006 to November 2007.
He first became a civil servant when he joined the Treasury as a graduate entrant in 1996.
He held various roles at the UK spending department where he spent almost ten years.
He was first promoted to the senior civil service to lead the Treasury’s Corporate and Private Finance team in 2003, where he was responsible for the financial and economic policy interests in state-owned industries and project finance.
About Winnie Agbonlahor
Winnie is news editor of Global Government Forum. She previously reported for Civil Service World - the trade magazine for senior UK government officials. Originally from Germany, Winnie first came to the UK in 2006 to study a BA in Journalism & Russian at the University of Sheffield. She is bilingual in English and German, and, after spending an academic year abroad in Russia and reporting for the Moscow Times, Winnie also speaks Russian fluently.
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