Government Economic Service

The Government Economic Service (GES) is a professional grouping of public sector economists who work across some 40 departments and agencies of Her Majesty's Government (HMG). The Bank of England is also a corporate member of the GES. The GES Board is chaired by the Head of the GES and consists of government chief economists and directors of analysis. GES was founded in 1964 by Sir Alec Cairncross. The GES recruits economists on behalf of the departments and is the largest recruiter of economists in the UK. It facilitates the movement of GES economists between posts in different departments and also maintains professional standards for recruitment and for existing members. It leads on the development of intellectual capital for cross-departmental issues.

From June 2007 to July 2010, the post of Head of the Government Economic Service (GES) was held jointly by the Managing Director of Macroeconomic and Fiscal Policy in HM Treasury and Chief Economic Adviser to the Treasury, Dave Ramsden, CBE, and Vicky Pryce, Director General of Economics in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. Dave Ramsden is now the sole Head of the GES. Tera Allas replaced Vicky Pryce at BIS in December 2010 and was Deputy Head of the Government Economic Service until June 2013. The previous Head of the GES was Sir Nicholas Stern, now Lord Stern of Brentford, who succeeded Sir Gus O'Donnell. Sir Gus went on to become the Head of the Home Civil Service and Cabinet Secretary, and is now Lord O'Donell. Professional support for the GES, and since 2010 also for the Government Social Research profession, is provided by the Government Economic and Social Research Team, located at HM Treasury.

The GES web site www.ges.gov.uk details the different departments within which GES members work and the variety of issues on which they provide economic advice. Most GES jobs are in London, but some posts are located in other parts of the country.

The GES also recruits, on behalf of departments, summer and year-long internships for UK students currently on an economics based course.


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