| Her Majesty's Treasury | |
|---|---|
| Logo of Her Majesty's Treasury | |
| Department overview | |
| Formed | 1066 or earlier [1] |
| Jurisdiction | United Kingdom |
| Headquarters | 1 Horse Guards Road Westminster, London |
| Employees | 1460 FTE[2] |
| Annual budget | £3.8 billion (current) & £300 million (capital) for Chancellor's Departments in 2011-12 [3] |
| Minister responsible | The Right Honourable. George Osborne, MP, Chancellor of the Exchequer |
| Department executive | The Right Honourable. David Cameron, MP, First Lord of the Treasury |
| Website | |
| www.hm-treasury.gov.uk | |
| United Kingdom | |
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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.[4]
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The Treasury of the United Kingdom traces its origins to the Treasury of the Kingdom of England, which had come into existence by 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 were given a number based on their seniority. Eventually, the First Lord of the Treasury came to be seen as the natural head of the 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.
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 not convertible for gold through the Bank of England, replacing the gold coin in circulation to prevent a run on sterling and to enable raw material purchases for armament production. 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. They replaced coins in circulation, were produced by the Treasury, not the Bank of England. 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 promise (never adhered to) was their removal from circulation after the war had finished and the return to the circulation of gold as money.
The notes were issued until 1928, when the Currency and Banknotes Act 1928 returned note-issuing powers to the banks.[5]
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.
The Treasury Ministers are as follows:[6]
| Minister | Rank | Portfolio | |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Rt Hon George Osborne MP | Chancellor of the Exchequer Second Lord of the Treasury |
Overall responsibility | |
| The Rt Hon Danny Alexander MP | Chief Secretary to the Treasury | Public expenditure, devolution matters | |
| Mark Hoban MP | Financial Secretary to the Treasury | Financial services, personal savings and pensions | |
| David Gauke MP | Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury | UK tax system, HM Revenue and Customs, Valuation Office Agency | |
| Chloe Smith MP | Economic Secretary to the Treasury | Environmental taxation, tax credits, charities, stamp duty, Royal Mint | |
| Lord Sassoon Kt | Commercial Secretary to the Treasury | Enterprise & productivity, corporate finance, financial crime | |
| Key | Conservative | |
|---|---|---|
| Liberal Democrat |
The Paymaster General, The Rt Hon Francis Maude MP is also a Treasury Minister but works from the Cabinet Office.[7]
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.
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, Innovation and Skills. 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.
The Treasury Main Building at 1 Horse Guards Road, often referred to as the Government Offices Great George Street ('GOGGS'), was designed by John Brydon following a competition.[8] Construction took place in two phases: the West end was completed in 1908 and the East end was completed in 1917.[8] 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.[8] A major refurbishment of the building was completed under a PFI contract by Bovis Lend Lease in 2004.[9]
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