Civil Service Live

Lions’ Lair

Lion roaring

Civil Servants from around the country have had the opportunity to stand out from the pride and prove how innovation can transform the future of the Civil Service. Entrants were invited to pitch their ideas to a panel of judges (the Lions) and, throughout the three days of Civil Service Live, delegates will be able to visit the Lions’ Lair and see footage of the competitors presenting their ideas.

Judges included Peter Jones, entrepreneur and panel member of the BBC’s Dragons’ Den programme, Ernst & Young’s head of government services, Robin Tye, Government communications permanent secretary Howell James, Central Office of Information chief executive Alan Bishop, and environment and rural affairs permanent secretary Helen Ghosh.

Sir Gus O’Donnell, the Cabinet Secretary, is taking part in a session each afternoon, with Peter Jones, to discuss how the civil service will be more innovative in the future.

Shortlist for Lions’ Lair

  • Kash Walayat, DCSF; Learning on the job through Supershadowing.
  • Philip John, Job Centre Plus; Using technology to improve customer service through using text messages
  • John McGregor, DWP; A tool to calculate arrears of benefit.
  • Kathleen Lindsey, Access to Work, Job Centre Plus; Reducing water usage in departments.
  • Gavin Duffy, Environment & Heritage Service; To run Government vehicles on environmentally friendly and sustainable fuel.
  • Clare Merrills and David Gostelow, HMRC; Improve community understanding of policies by training staff to explain complex information in clear and understandable language and recruit staff who are multi-lingual
  • Rob Murphy: Home Office, create a portal across central Government that will enable civil servants to access business directories for all Government departments. This will assist civil servants who deal with issues which cut across the responsibility of more than one Government Department or agency by enabling them to identify colleagues in other
  • Jonathan Lepper, HM Treasury; A cross Whitehall on-line job share notice board to create a formal market place for job sharers accessible to all civil servants.
  • Doug Roberts, HMRC; Unify the coding for Company Tax to allow all depts. to access the information they need easily.
  • Rupert Cryer, Cabinet Office; Highlight success in departments through Headlines - a short, monthly note from each department setting out the key successes for each directorate.
  • Geoff Bantock, HMRC; A “Unified Tax System” that can work out straightaway household’s net disposable monthly income.