Sir Suma Chakrabarti
Biography
As Permanent Secretary, Suma is the civil service head of the Ministry and responsible for the effectiveness and efficiency of all aspects of the Ministry’s work. The role of Permanent Secretary carries with it the responsibility of Principal Accounting Officer, ensuring that the resources authorised by Parliament are used for the purposes authorised by Parliament.
Suma is responsible to the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice for the leadership, management, control and staffing of the Ministry and is personally responsible to Parliament for the propriety and regularity of its expenditure.
Suma is also Clerk of the Crown in Chancery, meaning he has custody of the ‘Great Seal of the Realm’ which is used to authorise official documents on behalf of the Queen, and also has certain ceremonial roles in Parliament. Suma’s responsibility
Suma has specific responsibility for:
- agreeing with the Secretary of State the overarching strategy for delivering Ministerial objectives
- leading, and managing the Ministry to ensure that it operates as effectively and efficiently as possible
- reporting to the Justice Secretary and to Parliament on overall performance.
The management board and executive team support Suma in discharging these responsibilities.
Suma reports to Sir Gus O’Donnell, Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Home Civil Service.
Previous roles in government
-
Permanent Secretary