Derek Jones
Permanent Secretary of the Welsh Government
What were your biggest policy and delivery challenges in 2013? How did you handle them?
This has been quite a year for Welsh Government, so it’s not easy to single out any one thing. Our Cabinet has been clear that strengthening the economy, creating jobs and tackling poverty were the top priorities for the organisation in 2013, so obviously they were my priorities too. The economy is still going through a tough time, but Wales recently saw the biggest rise in inward investment projects in the UK. This has been the result of a great deal of determination on the part of everyone involved, and very clear focus and direction right through the leadership chain.
In the past year, we’ve also reached some significant milestones in the journey of Welsh devolution. The first Welsh Bill became law when the Official Languages Act was passed by the Assembly on 12 November. Since then, seven more bills have become law – including the Human Transplantation (Wales) Bill: this is certainly our most high-profile piece of legislation so far, with Wales leading the way in the UK.
Gearing up the Welsh Government civil service to support ministers in taking laws from concept through to statute book has been a huge challenge for the organisation. We’ve needed to build both capability and capacity to deal with an ambitious legislative programme, and that’s meant taking tough decisions to realign resources to priorities, a substantial amount of training and development, and some rigorous programme management to ensure we stay on track. I’m very pleased with our progress as a relatively young legislative institution, but I’m not complacent.
In November, the UK government announced its positive response to the Silk Commission proposals on further devolved powers for Wales. As well as being hugely exciting, that brings some major new challenges.
Where have you made the most progress in implementing the Civil Service Reform Plan, and what are your reform priorities for 2014?
In October we published the first Capability Plan for the whole of Welsh Government, setting out the integrated approach we are taking to workforce planning, performance management and learning and development. This is aligned to the UK plan, and shares many of the same goals, but it addresses the specific needs of a civil service serving a devolved government. The UK civil service now serves three separate governments with different political beliefs and priorities. Inevitably, that means we need a degree of flexibility in how we respond to the reform agenda. I’m pleased that we’ve been able to achieve that balance in a constructive way.
What are your key challenges in the last year of the Parliament? How will you tackle them?
In Wales, we’ll be electing a new Assembly Government in 2016 – a good illustration of the point I’ve made above about the civil service now serving three governments, not one! With new devolved powers on borrowing and taxation now in prospect, one of my main challenges will be ensuring the organisation can support ministers effectively through the next stage of the devolution journey, while remaining absolutely focused on completing the successful delivery of our programme for government.
What would you most like Santa to bring you this year? And what would you like him to take away?
Some new hiking boots, so I can walk the glorious Welsh Coastal Path in comfort – the first path in the world to encompass a whole nation’s coastline. He’d need to smuggle a few appointments out of my diary to allow time for the whole 270 miles, though!