Civil Service chief takes time out for cancer treatment

SIR JEREMY HEYWOOD, the head of the Civil Service and Theresa May’s most senior policy adviser, is to take three months off work while he undergoes treatment for cancer, the Cabinet Office has announced.

The Cabinet Secretary was diagnosed last summer and received treatment while continuing to work.

He is taking a leave of absence until September to have further treatment for the illness and a related infection.

Sir Jeremy, 56, was appointed Cabinet Secretary in 2011 and three years later also took on the role of head of the Civil Service.

Sir Mark Sedwill, the National Security Adviser, will stand in as Cabinet Secretary as well as continuing in his current post.

He will begin by chairing a regular meeting of Theresa May’s top team this morning.

John Manzoni, the chief executive of the Civil Service, will take over Sir Jeremy’s managerial responsibilities in Whitehall.

Sir Jeremy, who began his Whitehall career as Principal Private Secretary to the then chancellor Norman Lamont and helped steer the Government through the Black Wednesday crisis, worked for Tony Blair and became

‘With the support of the Prime Minister he will be taking a leave of absence from his current role’

Gordon Brown’s chief of staff before David Cameron made him his Permanent Secretary in Downing Street.

A Cabinet Office spokesman said: “Jeremy Heywood, Cabinet Secretary and head of the Civil Service, announced today that, with the support of the Prime Minister, he will be taking a leave of absence from his current role to have further treatment for the cancer diagnosed last summer and for a related infection.”