The cabinet secretary, Dame Antonia Romeo, has called on officials to adopt a new mindset to turn the civil service into a “world-class organisation”.
Writing to civil servants in a blog post on GOV.UK, the cab sec said the civil service is at an “inflection point” at a time of global uncertainty and huge technological change.
Romeo said she “passionately” believes in the need to “maintain and renew the best traditions and the code of the impartial civil service”, but is also “ambitious to improve public services for the citizens we serve”.
She said part of that ambition “must be changing how we do things” and called for civil servants to “demonstrate a positive mindset in how we work and what we can achieve”.
This mindset, she said, should consist of three mantras: "Make it happen. Make it better. Make it count."
‘Make it happen’
"Make it happen” means a “relentless focus on excellence in delivery, being accountable, and serving the public and government with purpose”, Romeo said.
To support this, Romeo said the No.10 Delivery Unit’s “data-led approach is identifying barriers to delivery of the prime minister’s priorities, and working with departments to remove them”.
“I have been working to ensure you have all the support you need to deliver, and to remove bureaucratic processes that slow us down,” she said. “This is a task which may never be complete, but I want you to know that we will work continuously to help you do your job well.”
Romeo added that the civil service “must be a magnet for the best and brightest, and be an employer that delivers rigorous and world-class training”. She said the new National School for Government will play a vital role in broadening its collective capability and equipping officials with the “cutting-edge digital, analytical, and operational skills required for the Future Civil Service”.
‘Make it better’
“Make it better” means being “curious, embracing new ideas and adapting to the use of technology and AI”, Romeo said.
“We must learn constantly – from the service front line, local communities, other countries, the private sector and from history,” she said.
The cab sec said AI is “the defining opportunity of our generation, as well as the defining challenge”.
“It will fundamentally transform our work, how we operate, and the services we deliver over the coming years,” she said. “I have seen extraordinary work across the civil service already – teams using AI to process casework faster, improve outcomes, and free up time for the complex judgements that only people can make. This is happening now. We need to scale it up, talk about it and share it.”
Romeo said each department is putting in place a plan to ramp up technology and AI adoption safely, and working to build in-house AI engineering teams.
She said new training on AI will help officials to better understand and adapt policy responses to emerging AI trends, while a suite of new AI models is being developed to allow officials to “effectively automate and augment” their work, leaving them to focus on areas where they are adding the most value.
Romeo also announced the launch of a new Cabinet Secretary's AI Innovation Award – a quarterly recognition programme for individuals and teams across the civil service using AI and technology in genuinely innovative and responsible ways. Nominations for the first round are open now, and close on 22 July. Winners will receive a financial award in the form of vouchers, a signed certificate and the opportunity to present their work to ministers. Shortlisted nominees will be automatically entered into the Civil Service Awards.
‘Make it count’
Romeo said the third mantra, “make it count”, means “maintaining and building trust in our institution” and “taking pride in public service”.
She said pride “comes from working for an organisation that is genuinely excelling – from doing excellent work yourself, and from knowing that what you do changes lives”.
To turn the civil service into a world-class organisation, Romeo said she is focused on understanding the skills and capabilities the civil service will need in three-to-five years’ time.
“This will mean modernising development schemes, pay frameworks, talent management systems and recruitment processes, working with the unions,” she said. “Building a culture of pride that comes from high performance means we need to recognise and reward that performance, and also tackle poor performance where it exists.”
Romeo’s comments on pay follow the announcement of performance-related pay progression for senior civil servants last week.
‘The civil service is brilliant – we will become even better’
In the blog, which follows the publication of Romeo's objectives in April, the cab sec said she and her team of permanent secretaries are focused on building a civil service that is “famous” for excellence in delivering for ministers and the public; use of tech and AI; and being “trusted by the people we serve”.
“This is our Future Civil Service programme,” she said. To support the programme, the Cabinet Office recently appointed a DG to focus on this agenda.
Romeo said she joined the civil service “because we are charged with delivery of the most purposeful work in the country and on society’s most important problems”.
She added: “I want our delivery and services to be world class, and that means we need to be world class. Everyone who works here should feel proud to say they work in the civil service. The civil service is brilliant. We can, and will, be even better.”
Romeo also recalled that her father described her first day in the civil service, now 25 years ago, as “the proudest day of his life”.
“He was not a civil servant himself (he was a university professor), but he understood what the institution represented: hugely talented people, in service of the public, a cornerstone of democracy, and admired around the world,” she said.
“I think about that every day when I come into the office. Every day, every single person in the country depends on our work. Being educated, finding a job, being kept safe, travelling to work, paying taxes, getting a passport. That purpose, that impact, is what personally motivates me to do this job. I take very seriously that responsibility and I recognise the privilege of leading the people who are doing the work."