Government Economic Service

The Government Economic Service (GES) was founded in 1964 by Sir Alec Cairncross. It is a professional grouping of public sector economists who work across some 40 government departments and agencies, the Bank of England is also a Corporate Member of the GES. 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-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 CB, Director General of Economics in the Department for Business, Innovation and Science. Dave Ramsden is now the sole Head of the GES but with Tera Allas as Deputy Head of the GES. Tera Allas replaced Vicky Pryce at BIS in December 2010. 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. Professional support for the GES is provided by the Government Economic and Social Research Team led by Andy Ross, Deputy Director and Head of Professional Development, GESR team is located in HM Treasury's building.

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.

External links

• GES Homepage