Permanent Secretary and Clerk of the Crown in Chancery, Ministry of Justice
What are you most proud of achieving during 2011?
Our Transforming Justice programme, which captures all the key change initiatives of the department, is a real success.
We have made good progress in a number of areas, including introducing payment by results pilots for reducing reoffending, and in shared services. We have a network of 1500 ‘transformers’, who lead change upwards through the organisation. The positive reviews that our work under Transforming Justice has received from the Institute for Government and the Public Administration Select Committee have further highlighted the value of this programme.
I was immensely proud of the way in which Ministry of Justice (MoJ) staff responded to this summer’s riots. People across the country demonstrated extraordinary levels of commitment and professionalism. We kept courts open 24/7, accommodated an influx of prisoners, and delivered under huge pressure.
Finally, I was delighted to see MoJ identified as the most efficient department by Civil Service World. Like all departments, we strive to ensure that we deliver public services as efficiently as possible, so it is fantastic to be recognised for our very significant improvement in this regard.
How has the shape and structure of the department changed during 2011?
Last year the departmental board agreed a new operating model. This year we have worked to implement it, restructuring and reducing the senior civil service (SCS) across the department and its agencies, and reforming our operations below that level. We have rationalised our resources, focusing on frontline services and ministerial priorities.
A joined-up HM Courts and Tribunals Service was launched on 1 April, bringing together two agencies, restructuring to reduce the layers of management, and providing better service to our customers.
We have also published our Offender Services Competitions Strategy working with voluntary, community, social enterprise and private sector organisations to diversify the providers of offender management services – the payment by results pilots are a leading example of this work.
What is the most important thing the department must achieve during 2012?
We need to take Transforming Justice further to deliver our departmental strategy, a transformed justice system and a transformed department.
We have made significant progress already, but it will be crucial that we keep up the momentum, delivering key milestones around our reforms to the sentencing and legal aid frameworks, the rehabilitation of offenders, and the ways in which justice services are delivered to the public.
How is the civil service likely to change during 2012?
The civil service continues to evolve and adapt to the changing demands of the public. This work must continue, strengthening the links between departments and delivery partners to share knowledge and expertise and provide better services for less.
We need to prioritise our most important initiatives and ensure that they are being delivered well. This will involve retaining core skills and learning new ones, particularly in the commercial arena. The challenge will be for a smaller and leaner civil service to deliver quality with a wider range of new partners.
Delivering the transparency agenda is key: this will mean publishing our quarterly departmental data in a way that is accessible, meaningful and understandable, and becoming more accountable for the money we spend and the results we get. So, more than ever, we will need to focus what we are doing on what works and concentrate on responding to ministers and the public.
Which historical, mythological or contemporary figure would you most like to join for Christmas dinner?
Falstaff rather than Gandhi, given the occasion!