‘We’re a people organisation’: DWP’s Peter Schofield on supporting customers and encouraging his teenagers to revise

The Department for Work and Pensions perm sec sets out his priorities for 2024
Photo: Adobe Stock

By CSW staff

20 Dec 2023

 

Tell us three words that sum up your 2023...  

Delivering, transforming, caring. 

...And why you chose those words 

Demands on DWP’s services have been considerable in 2023, but as well as delivering every day to respond to this, we have also been building our future: designing the modern, digital services our customers need and considering how we work to provide them. At our heart, we’re a people organisation; our colleagues have supported customers in countless ways throughout the year, and we have seen amazing examples of how they have also looked after each other. 

What are your organisational and personal priorities for 2024?  

Continuing to strengthen collaboration – within and beyond DWP – as we focus on the outcomes that improve lives for individuals, families and communities. 

With my ODP hat on, next year we’ll be launching a new Professional Skills and Standards Framework for the operational delivery profession, along with updating a number of our learning and development programmes for civil servants at various levels. And next autumn we will welcome our first ODP fast streamers across the civil service, with the first intake from northeast and northwest England and Wales. 

And personally, encouraging my teenagers to revise for their exams! 

What’s your favourite festive treat, and what makes you say: "Bah, humbug"?  

My favourite treat? Gluten-free Christmas pudding with a generous helping of brandy butter. 

Bah, humbug? People who do their Christmas shopping before mid-December! 

This is part of CSW's annual perm secs roundup. Read all the entries to the 2023 roundup here

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