Stephen Lovegrove
Permanent Secretary of the Department of Energy and Climate Change
What were your biggest policy and delivery challenges in 2013? How did you handle them?
Where to start? DECC is a small department, but we have the second biggest delivery pipeline in Whitehall and we are totally focused on that. Three projects spring to mind: Smart Meters, where we have awarded the key contracts for data services and communications to support the roll-out; Hinkley Point C, where we have reached heads of terms with EDF to build the first new nuclear station in the UK for nearly 30 years; and Electricity Market Reform, where we have been ahead of schedule in publishing the draft strike prices and key terms, and for which the Bill is going through Parliament now. But there are many other projects and programmes I could have mentioned – carbon capture and storage and Grangemouth, for example. As for how, the right people with the right skills doing the right things is as good a place to start as any.
Where have you made the most progress in implementing the Civil Service Reform Plan, and what are your reform priorities for 2014?
I am particularly proud of the progress DECC has made on learning and development: training is vital to ensuring that the department has the skills it needs to succeed, and I believe strongly that investment in people is always worthwhile. We are already almost 100% relying on shared services, but there are plenty of areas we still need to work on in the CSR agenda. We need to be more flexible in our working patterns, and we are a long way in our department from having an acceptable, modern workplace. Changing that is a big priority for me.
What are your key challenges in the last year of the Parliament? How will you tackle them?
The cost of living is at the forefront of everyone’s minds at the moment, and we have already spent a lot of time in the department thinking carefully about the contribution energy bills make to this. We need to be confident that DECC has appropriate policies in place to protect the most vulnerable consumers and ensure that the move to secure, low-carbon energy generation can happen as quickly and cost-effectively as possible, but this must be balanced with an appreciation of the difficult economic situation householders find themselves in. We will continue to work closely with suppliers and NGOs to maintain the right balance. And completing electricity market reform as quickly as possible is the single biggest thing we can do to get desperately-needed investment flowing in to the sector.
What would you most like Santa to bring you this year? And what should he take away?
I’m going to be in South India over Christmas with the family visiting relatives, so asking Santa for anything else might be a bit much. Maybe the Ashes. And one thing I don’t want him to take away is the sun!