What was your highlight of 2024?
I feel incredibly privileged every day to have taken on this role in 2024. We are at a unique point in time, with a huge opportunity to shape the future of the civil service and deliver for our new government. I have loved getting to know teams in the Cabinet Office and working with colleagues in this new role to support delivery and change.
A personal highlight has got to have been my 10th wedding anniversary celebrations – which have taken lots of different forms with family and friends, and seem to have lasted nearly all year!
What was the hardest part of being a leader in 2024?
Taking tough decisions for the long term and facing open and straight conversations about necessary change.
"Delivery and implementation has got to be at the heart of the year ahead. There are high expectations and rightly so"
What are the main challenges facing your organisation in the coming year – and how are you planning to meet them?
Delivery and implementation has got to be at the heart of the year ahead. There are high expectations and rightly so – whether it is delivering change for the civil service or delivering better outcomes for citizens, we have got to translate government ambition into practical reality and sustain our efforts into the medium term.
What was the best Christmas present you’ve ever given or received? And the worst?
It has got to be seeing my parents for Christmas after two years apart during Covid when they lived abroad – the best Christmas gift ever.