Editing Secretary to the Treasury (section)

{{about|various political offices in the government of the United Kingdom|the American cabinet post|United States Secretary of the Treasury|Sri Lankan Secretary to the Treasury|Secretary to the Treasury (Sri Lanka)|the [[Civil Service (United Kingdom)|British Civil Service]] head of the department|Permanent Secretary to the Treasury}}
{{sources|date=September 2022}}
In the United Kingdom, there are several '''Secretaries to the Treasury''', who are Treasury ministers nominally acting as secretaries to [[HM Treasury]]. The origins of the office are unclear, although it probably originated during [[William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley|Lord Burghley's]] tenure as [[Lord Treasurer]] in the 16th century. The number of secretaries was expanded to two by 1714 at the latest. The Treasury ministers together discharge all the former functions of the Lord Treasurer, which are nowadays nominally vested in the [[Lords Commissioners of the Treasury]]. Of the Commissioners, only the [[Second Lord of the Treasury]], who is also the [[Chancellor of the Exchequer]], is a Treasury minister (the others are the Prime Minister and the government [[Whip (politics)|whips]]).

The Chancellor is the senior Treasury minister, followed by the [[Chief Secretary to the Treasury]], who also attends Cabinet and has particular responsibilities for public expenditure. In order of seniority, the junior Treasury ministers are: the [[Financial Secretary to the Treasury]], the [[Economic Secretary to the Treasury]], the [[Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury]], and the [[Commercial Secretary to the Treasury]] (currently not in use).

One of the present-day secretaries, the [[Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury]], formerly known as the ''Patronage Secretary'', is not a Treasury minister but the government whip in the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]]. The office can be seen as a [[sinecure]], allowing the Chief Whip to draw a government salary, attend Cabinet, and use a Downing Street residence.