Our governance

The main decision-making, executive and managerial bodies in the Cabinet Office (CO).

Roles & Structure of our Boards and Committees.

Cabinet Office Board

The Cabinet Office board provides the collective strategic and operational leadership of the Department, bringing together Cabinet Office Ministers, senior members of the Department鈥檚 executive leadership team with senior Non-Executives from outside government.

Cabinet Office Audit & Risk Committee

The Cabinet Office Audit and Risk Committee (COARC) is a sub committee of the Board. Its role is to support the Board and Accounting Officer by providing an independent view of risk, control and governance arrangements in the department, including its executive agencies. The committee also reviews and makes recommendations on the approval of the accounts for the Cabinet Office, Office of the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists, Civil Superannuation and Royal Mail Statutory Pension Scheme.

Members (all linked to biographies):

  • Joan Lewis, Independent Member
  • Sean Pearce, Independent Member

Nominations Committee

The CO board is supported by the Nominations Committee. It is responsible for ensuring there are satisfactory systems for identifying and developing leadership and high potential, scrutinising the incentive structure and succession planning for the board and the senior leadership of the department.

Investment Committee

The Investment Committee is a subcommittee of the Executive Committee. It reviews and approves investment proposals.

Executive Committee (ExCo)

ExCo is the senior executive leadership of the Cabinet Office. It monitors Departmental delivery and performance, communicates decisions taken by the Permanent Secretary and takes collective decisions on corporate issues affecting the Department.

Members:

  • Catherine Little, Permanent Secretary and Principal Accounting Officer
  • Sarah Harrison, Chief Operating Officer聽
  • Madeleine Alessandri, Head of the Joint Intelligence Organisation
  • Darren Tierney, Director General, Propriety, Ethics & Constitution Group
  • Vincent Devine, Government Chief Security Officer, Head of the Government Security Function聽
  • Andrew Forzani, Government Chief Commercial Officer
  • Simon Baugh, Chief Executive, Government Communications Service
  • Jonathan Black, Deputy National Security Adviser and Director General, European & Global Issues
  • Kunal Patel, Deputy Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister, No.10
  • Matt Collins, Deputy National Security Adviser
  • Fiona Ryland, Government Chief People Officer聽
  • Emma Churchill, Director General, Economic and Domestic Secretariat
  • Caroline Patterson, Chief Financial Officer
  • Christina Duncan, Chief People Officer
  • Elinor McDaniell, CO Strategy Director

People & Operations Committee

People & Operations Committee is a sub-committee of ExCo and provides strategic oversight of the delivery of the Cabinet Office people strategy.

Resilience and Security Committee

The Resilience and Security Committee is a subcommittee of ExCo. Established in 2022, it will formulate overarching strategies to mitigate risk, deliver security improvements and oversee strategic information, physical, personnel and cyber security across the Department.

Structure of our boards and committees

For more information on our boards and committees, see our annual report and accounts

This report includes a visual representation of our governance structure.

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