With the end of 2015 in sight, we asked Whitehall's top officials to review the year, set out their priorities for 2016 – and shed some light on their festive plans. Sir Derek Jones, permanent secretary of the Welsh Government, takes part in our biggest-ever perm secs' round-up series...
How did you tackle the biggest challenges facing your organisation in 2015?
For the Welsh Government, 2015 was the final full year of delivery before the National Assembly elections in May. So, unsurprisingly, the past year has been one of intense pressure and scrutiny across all our departments as we have worked to complete delivery of the Welsh Cabinet’s ‘Programme for Government’. With around three months to go until the beginning of the pre-election period, progress is looking good with almost all of the commitments delivered or close to delivery. This hasn’t been without some pretty stiff challenges for the civil service here. Managing the legislation programme from a position where we were making minor amendments to English laws through to the situation today – making primary legislation with 22 new Welsh Acts on the statute book – has involved a steep learning curve, some innovative policy thinking and a huge amount of hard graft.
And it hasn’t just been about legislation: we’ve also been heavily engaged in developing the Welsh economy, delivering a programme of public service reform focused on driving up standards and improving efficiency in our health and education services and fundamentally changing the way that local government works. The breadth of policy areas on which the organisation supports ministers to deliver is – on a good day! – part of the joy of the job. We don’t always use it to maximum advantage, but we are now definitely improving our ability to work well across government, supported by some significant changes to our top management structure that I introduced in the summer.
What are your department’s top priorities in the year ahead?
We’ve come a long way on the UK devolution “journey” so it would be nice if this question read “department/government’s top priorities” next year! We all need to get used to the fact that the civil service now serves three different governments and the days of thinking solely in terms of Whitehall departments are gone for good.
With our political cycle culminating in the election in May my priorities for the organisation are very clear. Firstly: relentless focus on delivery of the current programme. There is still plenty to do in the final quarter of this administration and ministers will quite rightly expect us to be driving home delivery of any outstanding pieces of work that will meet the commitments they have set out – and communicating that progress. My second priority will be helping the new government – whatever its composition – to hit the ground running. With 16 years of devolved administration under our belts I’m confident that the organisation will do that with its customary responsiveness and professionalism. There are still some big uncertainties to resolve about the next stage of devolution in Wales. But we know we will need to take on new functions and responsibilities – not least the capability to run a Welsh Treasury – against a backdrop of continuing financial constraint. Getting the organisation ready to meet that triple challenge is something I’ve put a lot of focus on over the past year and it will continue to be a priority for me in the year ahead.
What film do you hope to watch over the festive period – and what’s the best game to play with your family on Christmas Day?
We always have a big party on Christmas morning for family and local friends and neighbours. After that, a quiet family Christmas dinner. The film doesn’t matter – I’ll fall asleep whatever!
Perm secs round-up 2015: Whitehall's top civil servants review the year – and look ahead to 2016