John Gieve - Permanent Secretary at The Home Office

Permanent Secretary At The Home Office

Gieve served as Permanent Secretary for the Home Office from 2001 to 2005. At the time, the Home Office was the government department responsible for law and order, including prisons and probation, policing, oversight of MI5, and immigration and nationality matters. As Permanent Secretary, Gieve was in charge of the Department’s administrative functions and its civil servants, working to the Ministerial team headed by the Home Secretary. During Gieve's tenure at the Home Office, there were three Home Secretaries; Jack Straw (until 2001), David Blunkett (2001–2004), and Charles Clarke (from 2004). Blunkett was obliged to resign from government after a scandal involving accusations of abuse of his official position and misuse of government funds.

On 31 January 2006, after Gieve had left, the UK National Audit Office published a report, Home Office: 2004-05 Resource Account, which was highly critical of Home Office’s accounts during the period of Gieve's tenure; the accompanying press release stated that:

“Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, reported to Parliament today that the Home Office had not maintained proper financial books and records for the financial year ending 31 March 2005. Sir John Bourn therefore concluded that, because the Home Office failed to deliver its accounts for audit by the statutory timetable, and because of the fundamental nature of the problems encountered, he could not reach an opinion on the truth and fairness of the Home Office’s accounts.”

Later in 2006, Charles Clarke was dismissed as Home Secretary and replaced by John Reid, who shortly after his appointment made a statement to Parliament in which he described the Home Office as "unfit for purpose".