He will replace Sir Nick Macpherson, who is to leave his post at the end of March, as chief of the spending department.
Scholar first joined the Treasury in 1992 and rose to become principal private secretary to then chancellor Gordon Brown from 1998 to 2001. He subsequently moved to Washington, where he was the UK’s executive director at the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, before being named principal private secretary to Brown when he became prime minister in 2007.
He then returned to the Treasury in 2008 as director general for financial services and was named second permanent secretary in 2009.
He moved to his current role in 2013 and, as UK government sherpa for the EU, G7 and G20, played a role in the prime minister’s negotiation’s on Britain’s future in the European Union.
Scholar said he was “deeply honoured” to return to the Treasury.
“It is a strong department with exceptionally talented and committed staff, and I look forward to working with them all to support the chancellor and his team in taking forward the government’s agenda.”
George Osborne said Scholar was an outstanding civil servant with experience of advising on some of the biggest challenges facing the country in recent years.
“I look forward to working with him to deliver the government’s long-term economic plan in the face of an increasingly turbulent global economy,” he added.
