By Richard Johnstone | 30 October 2013
Sharon White, the Treasury’s director general for public services, has been appointed second permanent secretary at the department with responsibility for managing the UK’s public finances.
White will replace Tom Scholar who is moving to the Cabinet Office to act as the Prime Minister's Adviser for Europe and global issues.
In her current role, White has been leading the government’s review of financial management, first announced by Chancellor George Osborne and Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander in June.
A Treasury spokesman said she would continue this role – alongside the head of the Government Finance Profession Richard Douglas – until a replacement is found for the post of public services director general.
In her new role, White will be responsible for managing the Treasury’s finance ministry functions. This will include overall responsibility for implementing the government’s ongoing programme of spending cuts.
She will also continue to be part of the department’s executive management board as part of the collective leadership of the Treasury.
White first worked at the Treasury in the early 1990s, and subsequently worked in a number of other departments, including as a director general in the Ministry of Justice and the Department for International Development. She returned to the Treasury in late 2011 to lead a review of its management response to the financial crisis.
She will become one of two second permanent secretaries at the Treasury. The other has responsibility for economics.
White is married to Robert Chote, chair of the Office for Budget Responsibility.