Martin Donnelly
Permanent Secretary of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
What were your biggest policy and delivery challenges in 2013? How did you handle them?
Driving forward our Industrial Strategy has to be number one. Over the last year, we have launched 11 sector-specific strategies, enabled business to lead on developing the right skills, and invested in eight great technologies where the UK has the capability to take a global lead. And we have delivered this by working in partnership with business as part of a united approach to create jobs and growth in the long term.
We successfully privatised the Royal Mail: the biggest privatisation of its kind in a generation. And we’ve put employers in the driving seat to create new standards and deliver the skills their learners need though our apprenticeship reforms.
Government is making it easier for small businesses to grow. We recently launched the ‘Business is GREAT Britain’ campaign to add to our support for people in the early stages of getting their business off the ground, which includes our Start-Up Loans schemes. And the British Business Bank unveiled investments to support smaller businesses needing finance to help them invest.
At the summer’s G8 conference, we launched discussions on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership to help unlock billions of pounds of trade opportunities with the United States. We are also supporting the EU-Japan economic partnership agreement, while helping keep Britain top of the European inward-investment league.
Where have you made the most progress in implementing the Civil Service Reform Plan, and what are your reform priorities for 2014?
Civil service reform is at the heart of our drive to build a better department. We are working with colleagues across government on new ways of working, with improved flexible IT, better use of our space and a focus on innovative leadership at all levels.
We have already delivered £400m in administration savings. We are on track to cutting administrative costs by 50 per cent by 2015, while maintaining our focus on delivery. This makes us a top performer in Whitehall.
We embrace open policymaking in BIS, seizing the opportunities presented by digital media and personal visits to reach out to the widest group of stakeholders.And we are building confidence and capability. We have seen our staff survey engagement score rise again this year, with particular progress in leadership, change, and support for our departmental values.
What are your key challenges in the last year of the Parliament? How will you tackle them?
First, ensuring our industrial strategy continues to engage all of government in an effective partnership with business. We will drive forward open markets through negotiations on Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, with Japan and in the WTO. In Europe, we will build on our work to reduce regulation and foster a user-friendly single market. And our apprenticeship reforms will put employers at the heart of the skills agenda.
Meanwhile, by the end of this Parliament, we will have reduced our public bodies by 40 per cent – from 60 to 36 – as part of our efficiency drive.
What would you most like Santa to bring you this year? And what would you like him to take away?
I would like a more reliable tennis serve, if that is in Santa’s gift. I don’t think Santa should take things away, but I never liked February much.