The London 2012 Olympic Stadium
The Prime Minister and Sir Bob Kerslake, Head of the Civil Service, thanked civil servants for their work toward the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Sir Bob announced that nominations for the Olympics Award are now open as part of this years Civil Service Awards.
The Prime Minister wrote:
“I wanted to take this opportunity to re-iterate my thanks to those of you who have played such a key role in making the Games the success they were and in many cases I know that your efforts have been over several years.
We reflected at Cabinet…that the Games have been a great showcase for the best of the Civil Service- effective collaboration, across departments, agencies and with the private sector; flexibility and innovation; and an absolute focus on delivery. Yes on time and under budget but with creativity and style which has seen many conclude that these were the best Olympics and Paralympics ever seen.”
Read the Prime Ministers letter in full (PDF)
Sir Bob Kerslake recorded a short message of thanks to staff that you can see below:
Low resolution version for download
Sir Bob said:
“This summer we witnessed two extraordinary events. The Olympic and Paralympic Games captured the imaginations of people in this country and all over the world. Now those events involved a lot of people but it’s really important to say that they happened because of the excellence of the Civil Service. Right back to 2002 some 20 Departments have worked together to set up the agencies, to organise and bring together the key partners to make these Games happen and to ensure that they were a brilliant success.
What that marked out for me was the sheer strength of the Civil Service to do big things and to do them well.
It required huge amounts of collaboration across the police, across the athletic organisations and yet that was achieved with an immense amount of skill and quiet determination.
It’s really important that we learn the lessons form the success of the Olympics. Where did we get things right? How did we adapt when issues occurred? What kind of skills are required over a very long period and then we need to pick up those lessons and feed them into the Civil Service Reform Plan because its really important that the Reform Plan is founded not just on the things that might not have gone as well as we wanted but also on our brilliant successes.
This year as part of the Civil Service Awards we are introducing a new Olympic Award. It’s open now and we really want to have the maximum number of nominations so if you think there is someone or a group (of Civil Servants) who has gone the extra mile please put them forward.
These Games will obviously be remembered for the athletes, for the coaches, for the volunteers but they should also be remembered as a triumphant achievement for the Civil Service as well and so my personal thanks for your incredible commitment and determination in making them such a brilliant success. Thank you.”
What did civil servants help do towards the success of the Games?
Achievements include:
• ODA delivering one of Europe’s largest construction projects on time and on budget
• Olympic Park as a living demonstration of effective public procurement and management, breaking new ground in everything from the UK’s largest ever soil washing operation (2m tonnes) to the lightest ever Olympic Stadium (10,000 tonnes)
• Financial management that meant we announced before the Games that we were on track to deliver the Games project almost half a billion pounds under budget
• World class programme and project management that allowed us to deliver this country’s biggest peace time logistical exercise ran smoothly and effectively – from transport and policing, to security, borders and dignitary management.
• The advanced contingency plans that we put in place that meant we were able to respond flexibly and effectively to emerging challenges such as security staffing
• Nationwide Torch preparations that saw us deliver planning workshops to around 250 local authorities and issue planning guidance to all host authorities
• Hundreds of civil servants who haven’t taken a summer holiday, stepping up to new roles, forging new partnerships and going the extra mile to turn a good Games into a great Games, with nearly 400 staff working on the Games in DCMS alone
• Designing, planning and delivering the government’s largest ever campaign – GREAT – to promote the UK abroad and secure a £13bn economic boost from the Games
• Effective management of the Lottery to transform the way we support our elite athletes and ensure that the London goldrush can continue in Rio
Nominations for the Civil Service Olympic Award are now open and can be submitted via http://www.civilserviceawards.com