Sir
Philip Rutnam
KCB
Philip Rutnam
Permanent Under-Secretary of State at the Home Office
In office
5 April 2017 – 29 February 2020
Prime MinisterTheresa May
Boris Johnson
MinisterAmber Rudd
Sajid Javid
Priti Patel
Preceded byMark Sedwill
Succeeded byMatthew Rycroft
Permanent Secretary of the Department for Transport
In office
12 March 2012 – 5 April 2017
Prime MinisterDavid Cameron
Theresa May
MinisterJustine Greening
Patrick McLoughlin
Chris Grayling
Preceded byLin Homer
Succeeded byBernadette Kelly
Personal details
Born
Philip McDougall Rutnam

(1965-06-19) 19 June 1965
Bromley, Kent, England
Alma materUniversity of Cambridge
Harvard University
OccupationCivil servant

Sir Philip McDougall Rutnam, KCB (born 19 June 1965) is a British former civil servant who served as Permanent Under-Secretary of State at the Home Office from 2017 until his resignation on 29 February 2020. Prior to this, he was the Permanent Secretary at the Department for Transport for five years and also Acting Permanent Secretary at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills in 2010.[1]

Rutnam is currently Chair of the National Churches Trust, the UK's national conservation charity for churches, chapels and meeting houses open for worship.[2] He is also a Council Member of the University of Surrey[3] and a Non-Executive Director of Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust,[4] where he chairs the partnership to redevelop the Warneford Hospital site as Oxford's new centre for treatment and research linked to brain science and mental health.

After Rutnam resigned from the Government in February 2020, he began legal action against the Home Office for constructive dismissal. As a consequence of his statement, the Prime Minister asked the Independent Adviser on Ministers' Interests to investigate the conduct of the Home Secretary, Priti Patel, towards staff. The Adviser later found that she had breached the Ministerial Code. The legal action was settled in March 2021 in a settlement worth approximately £376,000 including a contribution to Rutnam's legal costs of £30,000.[5]

Early life and education

Born in Bromley,[6] Rutnam was educated at Dulwich College Preparatory School, Dulwich College, Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and Harvard University[7] where he was a Kennedy Scholar[8]

Career

Rutnam joined the Civil Service in 1987 where he held posts at the Treasury. He also worked for Morgan Stanley in Hong Kong and later joined Ofcom where he helped build the organisation from inception and was Partner, Competition and Regulation[9] and a member of the Board.[10] He joined the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills as Director General and a board member in 2009.[11]

Department for Transport

Rutnam became Permanent Secretary at the Department for Transport in April 2012[10] with the Secretary of State, Justine Greening, commenting that his "outstanding record and business focused skillset will be tremendous assets".[12] As of 2015, Rutnam was paid a salary of between £170,000 and £174,999, making him one of the 328 most highly paid people in the British public sector at that time.[13]

He oversaw the development of HS2,[14] the creation of Highways England,[15] a review of airport policy,[16] a substantial completion of works on Thameslink,[17] a new approach to rail franchising after the failure of the West Coast procurement begun in 2010,[18] and a reset of the £61 billion Network Rail improvement plan from 2012.[19]

Disability Champion

From 2015 to 2020 he was Disability Champion for the Civil Service.[20]

Home Office

On 27 February 2017, it was announced that Rutnam would replace Mark Sedwill as Permanent Secretary at the Home Office.[21] with the Cabinet Secretary, Jeremy Heywood, noting his “strong track record of leadership and achievement”.[22] Rutnam took up the post in April 2017.[23] He oversaw the Home Office response to the Grenfell Tower Fire,[24] the Windrush Scandal,[25] and series of terrorist attacks between 2017 and 2018,[24] as well as the rollout of the European Union Settlement Scheme[25] and preparations for Brexit.[26]

Following the Windrush Scandal he said he deeply regretted not identifying this as a systemic issue and that the department had not understood enough about the population affected.[27] On 29 April 2018 Amber Rudd resigned as Home Secretary because she had claimed that there were no targets for removals and then, when it turned out there had been targets, she claimed to have been unaware that they existed.

Rutnam was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in the 2018 New Year Honours for public service.[28]

Resignation

On 29 February 2020 Rutnam announced his resignation, stating publicly that he would sue the Government for constructive dismissal. In his statement he said: “One of my duties as Permanent Secretary was to protect the health, safety and wellbeing of our 35,000 people. This created tension with the Home Secretary, and I have encouraged her to change her behaviours. This has been a very difficult decision but I hope that my stand may help in maintaining the quality of government in our country, which includes hundreds of thousands of civil servants loyally dedicated to delivering this government’s agenda”.[29]

Sir Mark Sedwill wrote in his official response that he regretted his decision, saying that he was "grateful for your devoted public service and excellent contribution over the course of your long and distinguished career in the Civil Service...you have ever been mindful of the Civil Service values, demonstrated in the way you have conducted yourself in your roles.”.[30]

A report by Sir Alex Allan, the Prime Minister's Independent Advisor on Ministerial Standards, later concluded that Priti Patel's approach "amounted to behaviour that can be described as bullying" and that she had "not consistently met the high standards expected of her".[31]

On 4 March 2021, the Government announced that it had settled Rutnam's legal claims. It later confirmed that the value of the settlement was approximately £376,000,[32] and that the claims had been for unfair dismissal due to making protected disclosures under whistleblowing laws and/or health and safety law.[33]

References

  1. ↑ Annual Report and Accounts 2010 –11 BIS Retrieved 8 February 2023
  2. ↑ "New Chairman appointed". National Churches Trust. 24 August 2023. Retrieved 24 August 2023.
  3. ↑ "Members of Council | University of Surrey". www.surrey.ac.uk. Retrieved 24 August 2023.
  4. ↑ "Board of Directors". Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust. Retrieved 24 August 2023.
  5. ↑ "Home Office's settlement with ex-perm sec topped £370k". Civil Service World. 9 July 2021. Retrieved 24 August 2023.
  6. ↑ "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 30 December 2017.
  7. ↑ RUTNAM, Philip McDougall, Who's Who 2014, A & C Black, 2014; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2014
  8. ↑ "Full List of Kennedy Scholars - Kennedy Memorial Trust". www.kennedytrust.org.uk. Retrieved 8 February 2023.
  9. ↑ Ofcom annual report 2004/5 https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/3071/full.pdf
  10. 1 2 "New Permanent Secretary for Department for Transport" (Press release). Department for Transport and The Rt Hon Justine Greening MP. 12 March 2012. Retrieved 2 November 2014.
  11. ↑ "BIS resource accounts 2009 to 2010". GOV.UK. Retrieved 24 August 2023.
  12. ↑ "New Permanent Secretary for Department for Transport". GOV.UK. Retrieved 24 August 2023.
  13. ↑ "Senior officials 'high earners' salaries as at 30 September 2015 - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. 17 December 2015. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
  14. ↑ "Department for Transport Annual Report and Accounts 2013-14" https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/324031/dft-annual-report-2014-web.pdf
  15. ↑ "DfT: annual report and accounts 2015 to 2016". GOV.UK. Retrieved 8 February 2023.
  16. ↑ "DfT annual report and accounts 2016/17" https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/635176/dft-annual-report-and-accounts-2016-to-2017-web-version.pdf
  17. ↑ "Update on the Thameslink Programme - National Audit Office (NAO) report". National Audit Office (NAO). 23 November 2017. Retrieved 24 August 2023.
  18. ↑ "DfT annual report and accounts 2013/14" https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/324031/dft-annual-report-2014-web.pdf
  19. ↑ "Business plan 2012-2015 DfT" https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/3367/dft-2012-business-plan.pdf
  20. ↑ "Sir Philip Rutnam, Home Office Permanent Secretary, and Civil Service Disability Champion - Civil Service". civilservice.blog.gov.uk. Retrieved 24 August 2023.
  21. ↑ "Cabinet office: new senior appointments and changes - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
  22. ↑ "Cabinet office: new senior appointments and changes". GOV.UK. Retrieved 24 August 2023.
  23. ↑ "Philip Rutnam - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
  24. 1 2 "Home Office annual report and accounts: 2017 to 2018". GOV.UK. Retrieved 24 August 2023.
  25. 1 2 "Home Office annual report and accounts: 2018 to 2019". GOV.UK. 28 June 2019. Retrieved 24 August 2023.
  26. ↑ "More than £2 billion Brexit preparation funding awarded to departments for a successful EU exit". GOV.UK. Retrieved 24 August 2023.
  27. ↑ "Oral evidence - Windrush generation and the Home Office - 17 Dec 2018". data.parliament.uk. Retrieved 24 August 2023.
  28. ↑ "No. 62150". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 December 2017. p. N3.
  29. ↑ Media, P. A. (29 February 2020). "Philip Rutnam resignation: his full statement". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved 24 August 2023.
  30. ↑ "Letter from Sir Mark Sedwill to Sir Philip Rutnam (accessible version)". GOV.UK. Retrieved 24 August 2023.
  31. ↑ "Findings of the Independent Advisor" https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/937010/Findings_of_the_Independent_Adviser.pdf
  32. ↑ "Home Office annual report and accounts: 2020 to 2021". GOV.UK. 30 May 2022. Retrieved 24 August 2023.
  33. ↑ "Home Office letter 27 April 2021". Retrieved 8 February 2023.
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