Civil Service Live

First into the Lions Lair

This content is written by the Civil Service News Team

Sir Gus O'Donnell and Peter Jones

Civil Service innovation and 'entrepreneurial flair' were put under the microscope in the QEII Conference centre on Tuesday.

Delegates from across the public sector were invited to view a video presentation, hosted by Ernst & Young, showcasing 12 brave civil servants who were subjected to cross-examination in the style of BBC's successful 'Dragon's Den'.

Candidates from various departments, including Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, The Cabinet Office, Department of Work and Pensions, The Home Office and JobCentre Plus appeared on film to discuss their innovative ideas, screenings of which were on a half hour loop for delegates from 10am and throughout the day.

Taming the Lions

Those present saw successful entrepreneur and 'Dragon' Peter Jones put the chosen candidates under close scrutiny, questioning why good ideas such as saving water, sharing success stories and connecting up contact directories across government weren't already in place. Following the first morning screening one of the 'Lions', Robin Tye, Head of Government Services from Ernst & Young appeared with Doug Roberts of HMRC, whose idea - 'Unify the coding for Company Tax to allow all departments to access the information they need easily' - was discussed along with other issues raised from the audience.

Follow up

In the question and answer session delegates wanted to know what was going to happen next? Discussions also highlighted messages for senior management in the civil service, namely: to listen more to staff, many of whom are passionate and committed to new ideas, but also that all ideas aren't about more money, but are often about political decision making and removing the obstacles that make things happen.

Sir Gus and the Dragon

The action moved to the Churchill Room in the afternoon for an engaging and entertaining discussion between Peter Jones and Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Home Civil Service, Sir Gus O' Donnell. What Gus wanted to know from Peter firstly was, how do we measure up in his opinion? Peter felt that a cultural shift was required by suggesting that civil servants identify colleagues who delegate too often or are reluctant to take responsibility in meetings, summarising 'Taking action' as the first of his five recommendations for the civil service. His second piece of advice was related to 'Vision' and he highlighted the example of Kash Walayat from the Department of Children, Schools and Families whose enthusiasm generated several ideas, one of which, his 'Learning on the job through Supershadowing' was adopted by the panel.

When the question and answer session was thrown open to delegates Gus said that he would make it a high priority to implement the ideas from Lions Lair within the next 12 months, and felt that a commitment to cross departmental working already existing in government would make this happen.

The conversation also touched on negative media coverage of government departments, the Prime Minister thanking civil service staff, successes in registering car tax online and a frustration that good ideas weren't getting all the way up the management chain. But what was Peter's final thought asked Gus?

“In the U.S. they believe passionately - 'I can', but in Britain we have a culture that asks 'can I?'“ Both Gus and Peter felt strongly that a big difference could be made by six thousand civil servants, and that a cultural shift was possible across the civil service.