In today’s session of the Council of State, the King has resolved that the office of secretary general (Norwegian “departementsråd”) at the Office of the Prime Minister shall be titled “secretary to the Government” (Norwegian “regjeringsråd”). The change is made to underline the coordinating role that this office holds directly under the Government.

The secretary general at the Office of the Prime Minister is the Government’s leading civil servant. Besides being the administrative head of the Office of the Prime Minister, the secretary general also heads the secretariat of the Council of State and of the Government. The holder is thus the Government’s prime advisor.

The title ”secretary general” (its literal translation from Norwegian being “ministry councillor”), which has been used about this office since 1988, does consequently not cover the broad scope of the office. Also, its Norwegian version does not clarify that the Office of the Prime Minister is not a ministry. Between 1814 and 1969 the titles ”regjeringssekretær” (”secretary to the Government”), ”statssekretær” (”state secretary”) and ”statsrådsekretær” (”secretary to the Council of State”) were used for some of the tasks covered by the present office as secretary general. Already in 1954 it was proposed that the title be changed to ”secretary to the Government”.

”Regjeringsråd” was between 2 March and 18 May 1814 used as title for the members of Prince Christian Frederik’s Council of Government, but has since then not been used in Norwegian.