Martin Donnelly
Permanent Secretary of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
How did you tackle the biggest challenges facing your organisation in 2014?
This year we have seen our policies helping to deliver sustainable growth across the country. Our work in BIS ranges across the economy from large enterprises to start-ups, from higher education and apprenticeships to research and innovation, from better regulation to global trade. We have taken the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill through Parliament, set up the British Business Bank, seen the Catapult innovation centres really take root, and delivered a world-class Industrial Strategy in partnership with businesses. The hard work of teams across BIS and our partner organisations, in close partnership with our ministers, has made 2014 a year of real delivery.
This year BIS has become more confident, resilient, and true to our values of public service. We have launched an ambitious programme to develop our management capability and skills. We are also working closely with the Westminster Abbey Institute to review our values and levels of trust. And I am particularly pleased that BIS is seen as a Whitehall leader in gender diversity with over half our DGs and directors now women, and a more open and supportive working culture.
What are your department’s top priorities in the last months before the general election?
There is still a lot to do to deliver our work programme. So that is our focus. Devolution raises important new challenges too. And of course we are working to be fully match fit for the challenges 2015 will bring.
What’s your favourite Christmas treat? And what makes you say: ‘Bah, humbug!’?
We have a family tradition of Christmas stockings, and I still like getting one myself, with of course a tangerine in the toe. I also reread A Christmas Carol most years, to remind myself the point is never to say ‘Bah, humbug’ – especially at Christmas!