John Gieve

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Sir (Edward) John Watson Gieve KCB (born 20 February 1950) is Deputy Governor for Financial Stability of the Bank of England and an ex officio member of the Monetary Policy Committee.

[edit] Education and life

John Gieve was educated at Charterhouse School and New College, Oxford (BA, PPE; MPhil, Philosophy). He joined the Civil Service in 1974 and has served in a number of departments. Privately Sir John Gieve is known as a keen cyclist, footballer and golfer. He is also a loyal supporter of Arsenal Football Club. He is married with two sons. In 1999 he was made a CB.

He was Permanent Secretary (officially titled the Permanent Under-Secretary of State) in the Home Office from 2001 to 2005.

The Home Office is responsible for law and order, including prisons, police and MI5. It has both an administrative and a political head. The Permanent Secretary is a civil servant and is the administrative head of the department. He is in charge of the department’s administrative functions and its civil servants. The rank of Permanent Secretary is the second highest in the civil service. The political head is appointed by the Prime Minister and is referred to as the Home Secretary. During John Gieve’s period at the home office there were three Home secretaries; Jack Straw (2001), David Blunkett (2001- 2004) and Charles Clarke (2004 - 2006). Blunkett was obliged to resign from government after a scandal involving accusations of abuse of his official position and misuse of government funds. Gieve was alleged to have been implicated in the events leading to Blunkett’s resignation.

With effect from January 2006 Sir John Gieve was appointed as the new Deputy Governor for Financial Stability of the Bank of England. The appointment is for a five year term and carries with it membership of the Monetary Policy Committee.

On the 31st January 2006 the UK National Audit Office [NAO] published a report [http://www.nao.org.uk/publications/nao_reports/chronindex.asp?type=account Home Office: 2004-05 Resource Account which was highly critical of Grieve’s stewardship of the Home Office’s accounts.

The NAO press release stated that “Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, reported to Parliament today that the Home Office had not maintained proper financial books and records for the financial year ending 31 March 2005. Sir John therefore concluded that, because the Home Office failed to deliver its accounts for audit by the statutory timetable, and because of the fundamental nature of the problems encountered, he could not reach an opinion on the truth and fairness of the Home Office’s accounts.”

The NAO press release further stated that “the Home Office was unable to reconcile its cash position during 2004-05, i.e. match its own records of cash payments and receipts with those shown on its bank statements. This is a key control for the prevention and detection of fraud. Following significant work by the Home Office to investigate a £3.035 million discrepancy, it had to make adjustments of £946 million to reconcile its cash position.”

The NAO report points out that the poor quality of the financial statements and the delay to their production reflected a lack of skills within the accounts branch compounded by late recognition by management of the serious problems being encountered. Management procedures to ensure the quality of the financial information produced were also inadequate.

On the 30th April 2006 the UK's Independent newspaper reported that Gieve was being pressed to resign from the Bank of England because of financial mis-management at the Home Office during his period as Permanent Secretary, and his involvement in the released prisioners affair.

" Sir John Gieve, deputy governor of the Bank of England, is being pressed to resign following revelations of financial mismanagement at the Home Office, where he was permanent secretary.

The top civil servant, who moved from the Home Office to the Bank in January, is already under pressure as a result of the lost prisoner scandal, where it emerged that more than 1,000 foreign nationals had been released from British prisons without being considered for deportation.

Now a National Audit Office review of the Home Office's accounts for 2004-05 has revealed errors so wild that they beggared belief.

Vince Cable, Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman, said the Bank had "acquired a seriously tainted official. Charles Clarke's position is untenable and this applies a priori to the man who was running his department.""

In 2006 Charles Clarke was dismissed as Home Secretary and replaced by John Reid. Shortly after his appointment the new Home Secretary made a statement to Parliament in which he described the Home Office as "unfit for purpose".

Preceded by Sir David Omand

Permanent Secretary of the Home Office 2001-2005

Succeeded by Sir David Normington

The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee
Governor: Mervyn King (June 2003–present)
February 2006-March 2006:	King | Nickell | Bean | Barker | Tucker | Lambert | Lomax | Walton | Gieve
April 2006-May 2006:	King | Nickell | Bean | Barker | Tucker | Lomax | Walton | Gieve
June 2006:	King | Bean | Barker | Tucker | Lomax | Walton | Gieve | Blanchflower
July-August 2006:	King | Bean | Barker | Tucker | Lomax | Gieve | Blanchflower