Heywood (pictured) wrote in a blog published this week that he took the title on Monday, 1 September, in addition to his current responsibilities as cabinet secretary.
Kerslake will remain permanent secretary at the Department for Communities and Local Government until February next year, when he retires. He is due to give a valedictory speech as head of the civil service on 25 September at the Institute for Government.
Heywood wrote in his blog: “It has been a great pleasure and a great privilege for me to work alongside Bob since the start of 2012.
“Bob has had an outstanding career, spending over 35 years in the public sector. I know that his tenure as head of the civil service will leave a positive, long-lasting legacy for the civil service.”
Heywood will now chair a “revamped Civil Service Board”, including a seat for the civil service chief executive officer –a new role for which the Cabinet Office is currently recruiting.
The board, Heywood wrote, will “meet monthly to review the civil service’s progress in delivering the government’s objectives; provide oversight of the civil service reform programme and identify areas for future reform; provide the collective leadership of the civil service with a regular opportunity to review the lessons from successes and failures in civil service performance; and ensure that our best ideas and innovations are shared across departments.”
The other members of the refreshed Civil Service Board will be: Sir Nicholas Macpherson, permanent secretary at the Treasury; Ursula Brennan, permanent secretary at the Ministry of Justice; obert Devereux, permanent secretary at the Department of Work and Pensions; Sir Simon Fraser, permanent secretary at the Foreign Office; Lin Homer, chief executive at HM Revenue and Customs; Sir Peter Housden, permanent secretary at the Scottish Government; Mark Lowcock, permanent secretary at the Department for International Development; Una O’Brien, permanent secretary at the Department of Health; Mark Sedwill, permanent secretary at the Home Office; and Jon Thompson, permanent secretary at the Ministry of Defence.