Arnold France

Sir Arnold William France, Knight [Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath|GCB] was an English civil servant.
Born on 20 April 1920, the son of a bank manager, France worked in the same bank as his father before serving in the Army during the Second World War. In 1943, he was made Deputy Economic and Financial Adviser to the Minister of State in the Middle East; in 1945, he entered HM Treasury, where he was appointed third secretary in 1960. In 1963, he moved to the Ministry of Health as deputy secretary, and was then its permanent secretary from 1964 to 1968, during which time the Ministry introduced a new charter of general practice which overhauled the system of payments made to doctors; he was closely involved in the negotiations with the medical profession this entailed. He was then chairman of the Board of Inland Revenue from 1968 to 1972; while principally concerned with departmental management, he also oversaw the opening of the Inland Revenue's first computer centre. In the 1970s he was a director of The Rank Organisation.
France was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in the 1957 Birthday Honours, and was promoted to Knight Commander in the 1965 Birthday Honours and Knight Grand Cross in the 1972 Birthday Honours. He died on 2 January 1998.