HM Treasury
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HM Treasury, in full Her Majesty's Treasury, informally The Treasury, is the United Kingdom government department responsible for developing and executing the British government's public finance policy and economic policy. The Treasury maintains the Combined Online Information System (COINS) containing a detailed analysis of departmental spending under thousands of category headings.[1]
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History
The English Treasury seems to have come into existence around 1126, in the reign of Henry I. The Treasury emerged out of the Royal Household, and served as the location where the king kept his treasures. The head of the Treasury was called the Lord Treasurer. Starting in Tudor times, the Lord Treasurer became one of the chief officers of state, and competed with the Lord Chancellor for the principal place.
In 1667 Charles II of England was responsible for appointing George Downing (the builder of Downing Street) to radically reform the Treasury and the collection of taxes.
Beginning in the 17th century, the Treasury was frequently entrusted to a commission, rather than to a single individual, and after 1714, it was always in commission. The commissioners were referred to as Lords of the Treasury, and given a number based on seniority. Eventually, the First Lord of the Treasury came to be seen as the natural head of any government, and from Robert Walpole on, began to be known, unofficially, as the prime minister. Before 1827, the First Lord of the Treasury, when a commoner, also held the office of Chancellor of the Exchequer, while if the First Lord was a peer, the Second Lord would usually serve as Chancellor. Since 1827, the Chancellor of the Exchequer has always been Second Lord of the Treasury.
Banknote issue
Banknotes in the UK are normally issued by the Bank of England and a number of commercial banks (see Banknotes of the pound sterling). At the start of the First World War, the Currency and Bank Notes Act 1914 was passed which gave the Treasury temporary powers for issuing banknotes to the value of £1 and 10/- (ten shillings) in the UK. Treasury notes had full legal tender status and were convertible for gold through the Bank of England. Unusually, these notes featured an image of King George V - Bank of England notes did not begin to display an image of the monarch until 1960. The wording on each note was UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND — Currency notes are Legal Tender for the payment of any amount — Issued by the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury under the Authority of Act of Parliament (4 & 5 Geo. V c.14).
The notes were issued until 1928, when the Currency and Bank Notes Act 1928 returned note-issuing powers to the banks.[2]
Whips
Some of the Government Whips are also associated in name with the Treasury: the Chief Whip is nominally Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury and traditionally had an office in 12 Downing Street. Some of the other Whips are nominally a Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury though these are all members of the House of Commons. This led to the Government frontbench in the Commons being known as the Treasury Bench. However, since the Whips no longer have any effective ministerial role in the Treasury, they are usually not listed as Treasury ministers.
Ministers of HM Treasury
As of 20th May 2010[3]:
Ministers working in HM Treasury:
- Chancellor of the Exchequer and Second Lord of the Treasury — Rt Hon George Osborne MP (Conservative)
- Chief Secretary to the Treasury — Rt Hon Danny Alexander MP (Liberal Democrat)
- Paymaster General (working from the Cabinet Office) — Rt Hon Francis Maude MP (Conservative)
- Financial Secretary to the Treasury — Mark Hoban MP (Conservative)
- Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury — David Gauke MP (Conservative)
- Economic Secretary to the Treasury — Justine Greening MP (Conservative)
- Commercial Secretary to the Treasury — Baron Sassoon of Ashley Park (Conservative)
Permanent Secretaries
The position of Permanent Secretary of HM Treasury is generally regarded as the second most influential in the British Civil Service; the last two incumbents have gone on to be Cabinet Secretary, the only post out-ranking it.
- Francis Mowatt (1894–1903)
- George Murray (1903–1911)
- John Bradbury (1913–1919)
- Robert Chalmers (1916–1919)
- Warren Fisher (1919–1939)
- Horace Wilson (1939–1942)
- Richard Hopkins (1942–1945)
- Edward Bridges (1945–1956)
- Roger Makins (1956–1959)
- Frank Lee (1960–1962)
- Norman Brook (1956–1963)
- Laurence Helsby (1963–1968)
- William Armstrong (1962–1968)
- Douglas Allen (1968–1974)
- Douglas Wass (1974–1983)
- Peter Middleton (1983–1991)
- Andrew Turnbull (1998–2002)
- Gus O'Donnell (2002–2005)
- Nicholas Macpherson (since 2005)
The Second Permanent Secretary is Tom Scholar, the managing director of the International and Finance division. With effect from June 2007, the post of Head of the Government Economic Service (GES) is held jointly by the Managing Director of Macroeconomic and Fiscal Policy in HM Treasury, Dave Ramsden, and Vicky Pryce, Chief Economist in the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform. The previous Head of the GES was Sir Nick Stern. Management support for GES members is provided by the Economists in Government team, which is located in HM Treasury's building.
Agencies of HM Treasury
- Asset Protection Agency
- Office of Government Commerce (OGC) reporting to the Chief Secretary to the Treasury
- OGCBuying.Solutions an executive agency of OGC and reporting to the Economic Secretary
- National Savings and Investments reporting to the Financial Services Secretary
- The Royal Mint reporting to the Exchequer Secretary
- UK Debt Management Office reporting to the Financial Services Secretary
- Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, for which the Minister is the Financial Secretary
- Valuation Office Agency, an agency of HM Revenue and Customs
History of Treasury Main Building
The Treasury Main Building, often referred to as the Government Offices Great George Street ('GOGGS'), was designed by John Brydon following a competition.[4] Construction took place in two phases: the West end was completed in 1908 and the East end was completed in 1917.[4] It was originally built as offices for Board of Education, the Local Government Board and the local Ministry of Works Office: HM Treasury only moved in the building in 1940.[4] A major refurbishment of the building was completed under a PFI contract by Bovis Lend Lease in 2004.[5]
See also
- List of Commissioners of the Treasury
- List of Lord Treasurers
- Lord High Treasurer
- United Kingdom budget
External links
Video clips
References
- ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/opensecrets/2009/09/how_big_is_the_coins_database.html
- ↑ Trevor R Howard. "Treasury notes". http://homepage.ntlworld.com/trev.rh/Notes/treasury.htm. Retrieved 2007-10-12.
- ↑ http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/minprofile_index.htm
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 HM Treasury: About GOGGS
- ↑ HM Treasury case study
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