Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs

civil servant

Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs link (civil servant)
Start	1790
The most senior civil servant of the British Foreign Office. Deep state position.

The Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs is the most senior civil servant in the British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (and its predecessors) since 1790.

Not to be confused with Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.

A permanent secretary of state, is the most senior civil servant of a ministry in the United Kingdom, charged with running the department on a day-to-day basis. Similar offices, often employing different terms, exist in many other Westminster-style systems and in some other governments. In the United States, the equivalent position is a Deputy Secretary of an executive department, though British permanent secretaries are career civil servants (whereas Deputy Secretaries are political appointees).

Permanent secretaries are the non-political civil service chief executives of government departments, who generally hold their position for a number of years (thus "permanent") at a ministry as distinct from the changing political secretaries of state to whom they report and provide advice.