With the end of 2017 fast approaching, we asked the UK's top civil servants to look back at the year, outline their goals for 2018 – and tell us what they cannot do Christmas without
What are you most proud of achieving in 2017?
I am proud of the continued work of the Treasury in supporting the government’s economic policy. It has been a challenging year with a general election, the Brexit negotiations, and a weaker forecast for productivity growth. Treasury colleagues have supported the chancellor and our ministers across the full range of our broad policy agenda. I am particularly proud that we have delivered on these policy priorities while maintaining very high levels of staff engagement and making progress on our diversity and inclusion goals.
What was your most difficult decision in 2017?
Clearly the chancellor and his ministerial team face many difficult policy decisions. As officials we provide advice, but the decisions rest with ministers. On the managerial side, the most difficult decisions we face are around resourcing. All our teams at HMT are extremely busy and we have very tight resource budgets. So we face many difficult trade-offs in terms of where we deploy our resources.
What are your department’s top priorities in the year ahead?
Our priorities reflect our enduring objectives: maintaining control over public spending, setting the direction of the UK’s economic policy and working to achieve strong and sustainable economic growth. In 2018, we will be particularly focused on: continuing the work of restoring the public finances to health; supporting the government’s negotiation of a successful exit from the European Union; and developing and implementing the policies needed to improve the UK’s productivity.