A programme that helps safeguard civil servants’ mental health while they bring the perpetrators of particularly disturbing crimes to justice and a project exploring the use of cutting-edge technology to solve problems in the developing world are among the winners of this year’s Civil Service Awards.
Public-sector staff from across the UK descended on Lancaster House in central London last night for the 2017 awards, organised by CSW’s parent company Dods, which whittled down a shortlist of 45 individuals and teams to just 15 category winners.
Among them was the Crown Prosecution Service’s HR Directorate, which picked up the first-ever Health and Wellbeing Award for the creation of a new support package for staff working in its Rape and Serious Sexual Offences Unit and the Complex Casework Unit.
RELATED CONTENT
It said the move followed a 28% increase in the number of serious sexual offences and child abuse cases progressing through the courts in England and Wales over the past five years, and aimed to ensure staff were able to look after their own mental wellbeing and could recognise early signs of distress.
The team designed a holistic, preventative package of measures that included workshops for line managers and counselling sessions, which the CPS said had “led to employees feeling their wellbeing is better supported, improved absence rates, and supported the delivery of justice”.
Picking up 2017’s Innovation Award was the Department for International Development’s Frontier Technology Livestreaming Central Team, which is exploring ways that emerging technology can aid field-based challenges related to health, humanitarian response and production.
The team is using technology including 3D printing, internet-enabled devices, and drones to support colleagues on the ground in six countries deemed priorities by DfID.
The department said the work was “playing a major role in changing the way DfID works with technology, and influencing the approaches of international partners from UNICEF to USAID”.
Individuals collecting accolades included Department for Transport staffer Kulvinder Bassi, who received the Diversity and Inclusion Award for his 20-plus years of work with the department’s Positive Support Group, which counts close-on 80% of DfT’s black and minority-ethnic workers as members.
Department for Work and Pensions personal independence payment case officer Sarah Morton, meanwhile, picked up the Volunteering Award for her work helping homeless people via the Hope Project in Liverpool.
Elsewhere, Public Health England collected the Communication Award for its “Stay Well This Winter” campaign, encouraging vulnerable people to be more proactive about safeguarding their health.
HM Revenue & Customs won the Dame Lesley Strathie Operational Excellence Award for its “Automation Delivery Centre”, which is freeing staff from repetitive clerical tasks and allowing them to focus on “more satisfying” customer-facing tasks.
Speaking at the event, cabinet secretary and head of the civil service Sir Jeremy Heywood told the audience that he couldn't remember a busier year for the civil service, from the general election and working to form a new government without a majority to terrorist attacks, Grenfell Tower and foreign policy challenges, all alongside the Brexit negotiations, which he called "the most important negotiations a government has faced in peacetime".
"We're not surviving these challenges, we are thriving," he said. "We are on the top of our game, and I think the People Survey results that came out last week show the civil service has never been in finer fettle. So the challenges are immense, but we came into public service to do good, to help our fellow citizens, to support the government and deliver the will of the British people, and that is what we are doing on a daily basis.
"I am absolutely thrilled to be head of the civil service at a time like this, when we are under so much pressure and yet we are coming out so well. The civil service is a brilliant civil service, we're lucky to be part of it, and you should all be proud of your role in it."
A full list of winners is below.
Civil Service Awards 2017 – Full Winners List
The Chris Martin Policy Award
Teaching Excellence Framework Team, Department for Education
The Collaboration Award
HMP Berwyn Project Delivery Team, Ministry of Justice
The Commercial Award
Waste Procurement Programme Office, Welsh Government
The Communication Award
Stay Well This Winter Campaign, Public Health England
The Customer Service Award
Benefit Cap Team Northern Ireland, Department for Communities
The Dame Lesley Strathie Operational Excellence Award, supported by BT
Automation Delivery Centre, HM Revenue & Customs
The Digital Award, supported by Invotra
Alison Whitney, National Cyber Security Centre
The Diversity and Inclusion Award, supported by Microlink
Kulvinder Bassi, Department for Transport
The Health and Wellbeing Award
Crown Prosecution Service HR Directorate
The Innovation Award, supported by Serco
Frontier Technology Livestreaming, Department for International Development
The Inspirational Leadership Award
Sally Taylor, Department for International Development
The Project Delivery Excellence Award, supported by PMI
Transport Scotland, Forth Replacement Crossing Employer's Delivery Team
The Skills Award
Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, Commercial Development Team
The Use of Evidence Award
Scottish Government, Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation
The Volunteering Award
Sarah Morton, Department for Work and Pensions
Further information on all the winners can be found on the Civil Service Awards website