Permanent Secretary of Welsh Government
Which events or policies have dominated your attention during 2012?
I took up my post as Welsh Government Permanent Secretary in October, so the biggest event for me personally has been my appointment and subsequently getting to grips with what I believe is the best job in Wales. It was a real thrill to be asked to head the 5500 civil servants supporting the Welsh Government and I am tremendously proud to be leading the organisation through the next stage of its devolution journey.
How have the shape and capabilities of your department changed during 2012?
Before I arrived, the Welsh Government went through a significant downsizing with staff numbers reducing by around 20 per cent. Perhaps inevitably, the downside of managing such big reductions entirely voluntarily is that you can be left with gaps in capability and capacity in places where you don’t want gaps. One of the first things I did when I arrived was to commission three reviews to check whether: our resources are aligned to government priorities; we have the skills and capabilities we need for the future; and we can reduce bureaucracy and complexity and free up time to focus on delivery.
Which aspects of the CSRP are most important to your department?
In common with my permanent secretary colleagues across the UK, I will be using the CSRP to focus on continuously improving the way we work. Although we have a distinctive reform plan that addresses the particular needs of a complex organisation serving a devolved administration, we are facing many of the same issues and challenges in terms of capability and skills as the rest of the UK, including needing to strengthen our commercial, contracting and digital skills.
Legislation continues to be a hugely important area for us. The people of Wales voted for more law making powers in the historic referendum of 2011 and, not surprisingly, our cabinet is determined to use those powers to help them achieve the outcomes set out in our Programme for Government. We have a very full programme of legislation to deliver in this Assembly term and this is an area where we will certainly need to develop more capability and capacity for the future.
What are your main challenges for 2013?
Our first minister has been clear that the economy and jobs are his top priorities and they are therefore my priorities for the Civil Service. Having grown up in Wales, I have seen first hand what poverty does to people. I think most civil servants who work for Welsh Government have a real sense of connection to the communities we serve. Our recent People Survey demonstrates that sense of connection, with 93 per cent saying they are interested in their work. I want to unlock the potential inherent in that commitment and to see us become an exemplar of small country government. For me, that means being agile and well-connected both inside the organisation and with our partners and stakeholders; it means being focused on delivery and real outcomes in communities; and it means striving for excellence in everything we do. If we can make progress towards those goals in 2013, I’ll be very pleased.
Tell your colleagues a Christmas joke
A man is walking through the woods with his friend, who collapses and seems to be dead. In a panic the man calls 999, and the operator says: “Calm down! First, check and make sure he really is dead.”
“Okay,” he says. A shot rings out. The man comes back on the line, and says: “Okay, what next?”
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