15 July 2005
The Prime Minister has approved the appointment of Sir Brian Bender, currently permanent secretary at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, to be permanent secretary at the Department of Trade and Industry. Sir Brian’s post at Defra will be filled through open competition.
The Prime Minister also announced today that the permanent secretary post at the Treasury, vacated on the appointment of Sir Gus O’Donnell to the post of Cabinet Secretary, will be filled by a civil service wide competition.
Other civil service wide competitions will be announced to replace Sir Kevin Tebbit, permanent secretary at the Ministry of Defence, Sir Joe Pilling, permanent secretary at the Northern Ireland Office and Dame Mavis McDonald, permanent secretary at the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, who all retire in the Autumn.
"The start of a new parliament provides an excellent opportunity to create ministerial and permanent secretary teams that will take forward the Government’s business. I am extremely grateful to all those retiring this Autumn for the work they have put in during the past eight years," said the Prime Minister.
Commenting on the moves, Sir Andrew Turnbull, outgoing Cabinet Secretary said:
"It makes sense to bring a number of retirements together, with some having delayed their retirement and others going slightly early. In this way a new team can be assembled to provide leadership for the next few years. These moves provide an opportunity to advance new talent, whether from within the civil service or outside. I am grateful to my colleagues who join me in retiring and I offer my best wishes to those taking over."
Notes for editors
Sir Brian Bender was born in 1949 and educated at Greenford Grammar School and Imperial College, London, where he took a BSc and PhD in Physics. He is married and has a daughter and a son.
He joined the DTI in 1973 and has been seconded twice to the Office of the UK Permanent Representative to the EC: from 1977-82 as First Secretary (trade policy) and from 1985-89 as Counsellor (industry and energy).
From 1990-93 he was deputy head of the European Secretariat at the Cabinet Office, and from 1993-94 he was head of the Regional Development Division at the DTI. From 1994-98 he headed up the European Secretariat at the Cabinet Office. He was also a key member of the Prime Minister’s team for a number of EU Summits. From Dec 1998 he was head of Public Service Delivery in the Cabinet Office, leading work on the Modernising Government White Paper and became Permanent Secretary at the Cabinet Office in April 1999. He was appointed Permanent Secretary at MAFF in June 2000, and became Permanent Secretary at Defra when the department was created in June 2001. He has also played a role in the Professional Skills for Government agenda as the head of profession for policy delivery.
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