The Cabinet Office is the ministerial department and senior decision-making office of the Government of the United Kingdom, responsible for supporting the prime minister and Cabinet. The Cabinet Office is also the corporate headquarters of the British Civil Service and it is composed of various units that support Cabinet committees and coordinate the delivery of government objectives via other departments. it had more than 10,200 staff, mostly civil servants, many of whom work in Whitehall and Canary Wharf. Staff working in the Prime Minister's Office, 10 Downing Street, are part of the Cabinet Office.
Responsibilities
The Cabinet Office's core functions are:
- Supporting collective government, helping to ensure the effective development, coordination, and implementation of policy;
- Supporting the National Security Council and the Joint Intelligence Organisation, coordinating the government's response to crises, and managing the UK's cyber security;
- Promoting efficiency and reform across government through innovation, transparency, better procurement, and project management, transforming the delivery of services, and improving the capability of the Civil Service;
- Political and constitutional reform
The Cabinet Office has responsibility for the following at the UK national level:
- the Home Civil Service
- the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority
- the Government Commercial Function and the Government Commercial Organisation.
- the government's digital, data, and technology (DDaT) function is through the Government Digital Service
- the What Works Network, a network of organisations building evidence in public policy spaces.
History
The department was formed in December 1916 from the secretariat of the Committee of Imperial Defence under Sir Maurice Hankey, the first Cabinet Secretary.
Traditionally, the most important part of the Cabinet Office's role was facilitating collective decision-making by the Cabinet, through running and supporting Cabinet-level committees. This is still its principal role, but since the absorption of some of the functions of the Civil Service Department in 1981 the Cabinet Office has also helped to ensure that a wide range of Ministerial priorities are taken forward across Whitehall.
It also contains miscellaneous units that do not sit well in other departments. For example:
- The Historical Section was founded in 1906 as part of the Committee for Imperial Defence and is concerned with Official Histories.
- The Joint Intelligence Committee was founded in 1936 and transferred to the department in 1957. It deals with intelligence assessments and directing the national intelligence organisations of the UK.
- The Ceremonial Branch was founded in 1937 and transferred to the department in 1981. It was originally concerned with all ceremonial functions of state, but today it handles honours and appointments.
In modern times, the Cabinet Office often takes on responsibility for areas of policy which are the priority of the Government of the time. The units that administer these areas migrate in and out of the Cabinet Office as government priorities (and governments) change.
Ministers and civil servants
Cabinet Office ministers are as follows, with cabinet members in bold:
{| class=wikitable
! width=95px| Minister
! Portrait
! width=110px | Office
! Portfolio
|-
|Sir Keir Starmer
| alt=|94px
| Prime Minister<br/>
| Head of government; appoints members of the government; oversees the operation of the Civil Service and government agencies; ensures the government acts in the interest of all constituent countries of the United Kingdom; principal government figure in the House of Commons.
|-
| Darren Jones
|frameless|94px
|Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister<br /> Minister for Intergovernmental Relations<br /> Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
|As Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister, responsible for overseeing work across government departments and supporting the delivery of the Prime Minister’s priorities and the Government’s Plan for Change. As Minister for Intergovernmental Relations, responsible for leading coordination with the devolved administrations on the Prime Minister’s behalf, working closely with the Territorial Offices, to make sure that across government work is being done on behalf of the entire United Kingdom: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. As Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster overseeing all Cabinet Office policy, coordinating and delivering cross-government policies, overseeing of national security policy coordination, overseeing state and Civil Service reform, managing Government Communications policy, propriety and ethics, and government appointments.
|-
| Nick Thomas-Symonds
|94px
| Minister for the Cabinet Office <br /> Paymaster General
| Deputy to the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster on Cabinet Office business and additionally responsible for: EU policy and relations, including the Windsor Framework; oversight of functions and services; Civil Service reform; inquiries policy, including the Infected Blood Inquiry; duty of candour; Constitutional and House of Lords reform; Cabinet office planning and performance; Communications function and reform; and the public sector workforce.
|-
| Dan Jarvis
|frameless|125x125px
| Minister of State in the Cabinet Office
| Responsible for: supporting the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in coordinating national security policy; resilience and civil service contingencies; integrated security fund; investment security; cyber security; and the government security group.
|-
| Anna Turley
|frameless|125x125px
| Minister of State without Portfolio <br />
| Responsible for supporting the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office on public bodies, government property, and government people.
|-
|Chris Ward
|frameless|125x125px
|rowspan=4 |Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet Office
| Responsible for supporting the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister and the Minister for the Cabinet Office on coordination and delivery of cross-government priorities, in particular: EU Reset and the Windsor Framework; government commercial function; infrastructure delivery; union and constitutional matters; fiscal events and departmental business planning; and transparency and freedom of information policy.
|-
|Satvir Kaur
|frameless|125x125px
|
|-
|James Frith
|frameless|125x125px
|
|-
|Ruth Anderson, Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent
|frameless|125x125px
|
|-
|}
Leaders of the Commons and Lords
Leaders of the Houses of Commons and Lords, supported by the Cabinet Office, are as follows:
{| class=wikitable
! width=95px| Minister
! Portrait
! width=110px | Office
! Portfolio
|-
| Sir Alan Campbell
| alt=|125x125px
| Leader of the House of Commons <br/> Lord President of the Council
| The Government's Legislative Programme, chairing the Cabinet Committee; Managing and announcing the business of the House of Commons weekly and facilitating motions and debate in the Chamber, particularly on House business; Government's representative in the House (sitting on the House of Commons Commission, Public Accounts Commission, and the Speaker's Committees on the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority); House of Commons representative in Government; Parliamentary reform and policy; Ministerial responsibility for the Privy Council Office.
|-
| Angela Smith, Baroness Smith of Basildon
| 125x125px
| Leader of the House of Lords <br/> Lord Privy Seal
| Management and delivery of the Government's legislative programme (through the House of Lords) and facilitating the passage of individual bills; Leading the House (in the Chamber and as a key member of domestic committees to do with procedure, conduct, and the internal governance of the House); Issues connected to the House of Lords and its governance; Speaking for the Government in the Chamber on a range of issues, including repeating in the House of Lords statements made to the Commons by the Prime Minister; Ceremonial and other duties as the Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal.
|-
| Ray Collins, Baron Collins of Highbury
| 125x125px
| Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
| The Deputy Leader of the House of Lords supports the House of Lords in its job of questioning government ministers, improving legislation and debating topics of national significance.
|}
Civil servants
The Cabinet Office's most senior civil servants are as follows, as of February 2025:
{| class=wikitable
! Name
! Portrait
! Position
! Term start
|-
| Dame Antonia Romeo
| 125x125px
| Cabinet Secretary<br>Head of the Civil Service
|
|-
| Cat Little
|
| Permanent Secretary to the Cabinet Office<br>Chief Operating Officer of the Home Civil Service
|
|-
| Sarah Harrison
|
| Chief Operating Officer for the Cabinet Office
|
|-
| Simon Baugh
|
| Chief Executive of Government Communications
|
|-
<!--|| Sir Gareth Rhys Williams
|
| Government Chief Commercial Officer<br>Non-Executive Director, Crown Commercial Service (CCS)
|
|-
| Christine Bellamy
|
| Chief Executive Officer, Government Digital Service
| -->
|-
| Richard Hornby
|
| Chief Financial Officer and Director of Assurance, Finance and Controls, Cabinet Office
|
|-
| Vincent Devine
|
| Government Chief Security Officer
|
|-
| Kathryn Al-Shemmeri
|
| Chief People Officer, Cabinet Office
|
|-
| Ellen Atkinson
|
| Director General, Propriety and Constitution Group (interim)
|
|-
| Jonathan Powell
| 125x125px
| National Security Adviser
|
|-
| Dame Madeleine Alessandri
|
| Chair of the Joint Intelligence Committee
|
|-
| Clara Swinson
|
| Second Permanent Secretary in the Cabinet Office, Head of Mission Delivery Unit
|
|-
| Michael Ellam
|
| Second Permanent Secretary in the Cabinet Office, European Union and International Economic Affairs
|
|}
The Cabinet Office also supports the work of the Whips' Offices of the House of Lords and House of Commons.
The Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Cabinet Office supports the work of ministers.
Committees
Cabinet committees have two key purposes:
- To relieve the burden on the Cabinet by dealing with business that does not need to be discussed at full Cabinet. Appeals to the Cabinet should be infrequent, and Ministers chairing Cabinet Committees should exercise discretion in advising the prime minister whether to allow them.
- To support the principle of collective responsibility by ensuring that, even though a question may never reach the Cabinet itself, it will be fully considered. In this way, the final judgement is sufficiently authoritative that Government as a whole can be expected to accept responsibility for it. In this sense, Cabinet Committee decisions have the same authority as Cabinet decisions.
Buildings
thumb|right|The entrance to the Cabinet Office
The main building of the Cabinet Office is at 70 Whitehall, adjacent to Downing Street. The building connects three historically distinct properties, as well as the remains of Henry VIII's 1530 tennis courts, part of the Palace of Whitehall, which can be seen within the building. The Whitehall frontage was designed by Sir John Soane and completed by Sir Charles Barry between 1845 and 1847 as the Treasury Buildings. Immediately to the west Dorset House (1700) connects the front of the building to William Kent's Treasury (1733–36), which faces out onto Horse Guards Parade. The latter is built over the site of the Cockpit, used for cock fighting in the Tudor period, and subsequently as a theatre. In the early 1960s, the buildings were restored and many of the Tudor remains were exposed and repaired. Significant renovations between 2010 and 2016 converted many of the floors to open plan and created new office space. The Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms are located on this site.
The department occupies other buildings in Whitehall and the surrounding area, including part of the Government Offices Great George Street at 1 Horse Guards, as well as sites in other parts of the country.
See also
- British Civil Service
- Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms
- Prime Minister's Strategy Unit
- Social Exclusion Task Force
- Budget of the United Kingdom