Finland
A Secretary of State, valtiosihteeri, is the highest official below each minister. Ministers, who lead ministries (government departments), comprise the Finnish Council of State. Each Secretary of State is appointed for the term of the minister, and is responsible to the minister.
This is a new arrangement; during the introduction of this model, a secretary was called "political state secretary" (poliittinen valtiosihteeri). In contrast, previously only two ministries, ministries of finance and foreign affairs, used to have Secretaries of State, who were permanently appointed. One such example is Raimo Sailas.
Read more about this topic: Secretary Of State