All civil servants will need to start “doing things differently”, the new cabinet secretary has told officials on his first day of work.
In an all-staff message seen by CSW, Sir Chris Wormald said he was “deeply honoured” to have been appointed as the new cab sec and head of the civil service and that he is looking forward to meeting officials and hearing their ideas to “improve the way that government works”.
Wormald said his role as cab sec will be “to support the prime minister and government to deliver for the country” and that the PM “has been clear that he wants a re-wiring of the way the government works” to deliver his Plan for Change.
The new cab sec said “this will require all of us to do things differently – from working much more effectively across departments to taking advantage of the major opportunities technology provides”.
Wormald said he has seen the civil service “adapt and change to achieve incredible things for the people of the United Kingdom” throughout his career in government, which spans more than three decades. He added: “I know that together we will relish the opportunities the coming years will bring.”
His message to staff comes in the wake of comments from the prime minister stating that “too many people in Whitehall are comfortable in the tepid bath of managed decline” which have been slammed by civil service unions. Starmer has since written to civil servants, praising their “dedication, professionalism and strong sense of public service”, saying they face “too many obstacles” and urging them to “feel emboldened” to “upset the apple cart”. He has also addressed concerns raised by unions.
Wormald said in his message to civil servants that his career has been “rooted in public service”, from joining the Department for Education in 1991 to most recently being permanent secretary at the Department of Health and Social Care. He said he is filled with “great pride” to be leading the civil service.
“And I want all of us – working up and down the country, across all nations and regions of the UK – to be as proud as I am to serve in our fantastic civil service,” he added.
The new cab sec also used the message as an opportunity to pay tribute to his predecessor, Simon Case, saying he has been “a remarkable public servant over almost 20 years”.