Permanent Secretary, Department for Work and Pensions
What are you most proud of achieving during 2011?
The way Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) staff have provided critical services to millions of people, day in, day out. On an average day, through a national network of around 870 offices, we help around 6,600 people move into work, process nearly 30,000 claims to benefit, issue over 2,900 pension forecasts on request, and make just under three million payments.
This is a remarkable achievement, and I’m very proud of all the staff who deliver it.
How has the shape and structure of the department changed during 2011?
Our spending settlement requires a 40 per cent reduction in the cost of the corporate centre, and a 25 per cent reduction in the baseline for operational services. So in 2011, we’ve started to make significant changes to the structure of the department and how we work.
We’ve reduced the number of senior roles by a third; we’ve brought our two main executive agencies [Jobcentre Plus and the Pension, Disability and Carers Service] into the mainstream department; we’ve streamlined the executive team; and we’ve begun to de-layer spans of management below it. We’re doing all of this at pace, since we want to minimise the period of uncertainty for our staff.
All of this, and the work we’ve begun on our culture, aims to focus the whole department together on our transformational agenda: One DWP
What is the most important thing the department must achieve during 2012?
Remaining on course to implement our major programme of welfare reform, Universal Credit. This has major milestones during 2012, for both DWP and HMRC. Automatic enrolment of employees into workplace pensions starts for large employers in October, and a new Personal Independence Payment needs to be ready to start in April 2013.
Of course, the department must also continue to deliver for millions of people every day – helping people into work, paying benefits accurately and on time.
How is the civil service likely to change during 2012?
Against a background of a great many reforms in different parts of the civil service, I expect 2012 to see a refreshed overall vision for the civil service: what it’s here for and why it matters. I know this is important to Bob Kerslake and to Jeremy Heywood. I look forward to working with them and others on this.
Which historical, mythological or contemporary figure would you most like to join for Christmas dinner?
Edmund Blackadder.