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Prime Minister's adviser on Public Service Transformation

The Prime Minister announced the appointment of Sir David Varney as his adviser on public service transformation. In this role he will:

• advise the Prime Minister and Secretaries of State directly on all aspects of service delivery transformation and the implementation of Sir David's December 2006 report;
• work closely with Ed Miliband, Minister for the Cabinet Office responsible for driving the service transformation agenda forward;
• attend the Cabinet Committee on Public Engagement and Public Service Delivery (PED) Cabinet Committee and receive papers, and the Public Expenditure Committee when relevant;
• chair the cross–Whitehall Delivery Council which is responsible for coordinating cross–government activity to drive citizen and business centred services;
• work closely with the senior leadership of the civil service, and in particular Alexis Cleveland, the new Director General of Service Transformation at the Cabinet Office, to advise on the Government's approach at all levels to improvements of services. To facilitate this further he will remain a non–executive member of the Civil Service Steering Board, chaired by the Cabinet Secretary. He will also liaise closely with HM Treasury in implementing the transformation goals set out in the forthcoming Comprehensive Spending Review;
• report annually to the Cabinet on progress against service delivery transformation goals, which will be made available to the Public Administration Select Committee of the House of Commons.

In this role, Sir David will be supported by the Cabinet Office. This is an unpaid appointment.

Sir David Varney

Sir David Varney was the first executive chairman of the newly merged HM Revenue and Customs from 2004 to 2006, where he led the establishment of the second largest Government department.

Prior to this, David Varney was chairman of MMO2 (2001 to 2004) and Chief Executive of BG (1996-2001). From 1968 to 1996 he worked at Shell in a variety of positions, including Managing Director of Shell UK and Director of Shell International Petroleum. He is a former Chairman of Business in the Community and former president of the Chartered Institute of Management.

In December 2006, HM Treasury published Sir David's report Service Transformation: A better service for citizens and businesses, a better deal for the taxpayer. The report, commissioned by the then Chancellor, Gordon Brown, is available on the HM Treasury website [External website], on the section relating to the 2006 Pre–Budget Report.

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