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A veteran NHS manager with experience in the private health sector has been appointed as the next permanent secretary of the Ministry of Health as civil servants prepare for a massive termination at the summit of Whitehall.
Samantha Jones, non-executive director of the Department of Health, will be announced later this month as the most senior mandarin, those familiar with the plan told the Financial Times.
She is the first of a new appointment at the highest level of civil servants this year, and is expected to be the most important given the scale of reforms set to receive by the Ministry of Health and Social Care after the abolition of NHS England. Last month, Keir Starmer ir announced that the agency employing 15,000 people has been reverted to direct control of the health department.
Jones was promoted to Cabinet Secretary, replacing Whitehall’s longest serving secretary, Sir Chris Warmald.
The civil servant is also looking for a new permanent secretary of the Ministry of Justice after incumbent Dame Antonia Romeo moved to the Ministry of Home Affairs last month.
The same position is advertised by the Ministry of Transport and the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology.
MI6, the UK’s overseas intelligence agency, is seeking a new chief, a position equivalent to his secretary, as Sir Richard Moore prepares to resign this summer.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Finance is in the process of hiring a second assistant secretary to replace CAT Little, who was promoted to voluntary secretary at the Cabinet Office last spring. The role of Exchequer is based either on the London or the department’s Darlington campus.
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Alex Thomas, program director at the government’s Think Tank Institute, said the size of sales at the highest level in Whitehall has a strong connection to the provision of the Star program for the government.
Thomas noted that after the general election, a limited “shuffle” of permanent secretaries is very common as staff who remained to manage the transition decided to move on.
“But this is going to be a big shakeup,” he said. “This appointment is essential to the way the department transforms government policies into action, setting the tone of Chris Wormald-led civil servants.”
Jones began her career as a nurse before becoming an NHS manager, being the CEO of two healthcare trusts and oversees the National Care Reform Program.
She became an NHS transformation and social care expert to Boris Johnson when he was prime minister, and during his tenure she served as Downing Street interim secretary and chief operating officer.
Prior to joining the government, he worked in the private sector as the chief executive of Operaose Health, which operates GP services on behalf of the NHS.
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Her background side may prove controversial between some health unions and the left flank of the Labour Party. There, concerns are set aside about the government’s willingness to increase the role of the private sector in providing health care.
“I don’t think anyone else has combined her intelligence and grip with the depth and breadth of experience in an incredibly complex health care system,” said Rupert McNeill, former Whitehall chief people officer who worked with Jones.
The government declined to comment on the next permanent secretary of the Ministry of Health before the appointment was announced.
But on the sales of permanent secretaries across Whitehall: “These are important leadership roles in supporting civil servants in overseeing departmental work on planning change and providing priorities for civil servant workers.”
