The Civil Service World Podcast

Why is it so hard to do government well – and who’s trying to change that?
In this episode Suzannah Brecknell speaks to Derek Alton, founder of Civic Punks and former public servant, about his global quest to find the people who are building the future of government.
The conversation explores why governments struggle to adapt at the pace they need to, what history and even ecology can teach us about renewal, and how change can happen through the people who make the system work.
And, of course, we meet the Civic Punks - people with a passion for public service and a determination to change the system from within and without.
You can meet more Civic Punks on Derek's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@CivicPunks

Hosted by Suzannah Brecknell, Editor-in-Chief, Civil Service World
Produced by Podot

The latest Civil Service World Podcast discusses the extraordinary week we've just seen in Westminster and Whitehall.
CSW's editors-in-chief Jess and Suzannah are joined by Hannah Keenan from the Institute for Government to reflect on the sacking of cabinet secretary Sir Chris Wormald, the unprecedented nature of the situation - given how recently Wormald was appointed, and the impact of the turmoil on civil service morale.

Presented by Jess Bowie and Suzannah Brecknell.
Recorded and produced by Podot.

In this episode, we speak to Megan Lee Devlin – DG for Service Transformation at the Ministry of Justice – about practical, responsible AI adoption in government.
Megan shares how she uses AI day-to-day, from making the most of the general tools licenced by her department to the no-code tools built by civil servants themselves. She also tells us about bespoke, large-scale tools like Justice Transcribe, which has halved the time probation officers spend on admin.
She offers advice on building capability, overcoming challenges like hallucinations, and how leaders can support a wider adoption of AI through curiosity, connection and responsible championing.

Hosted by Suzannah Brecknell, editor-in-chief, Civil Service World.
Recorded and produced by Podot.

In episode four of It's Personal, created in partnership with KPMG, Jess Bowie and Jo Thomson continue their exploration of what makes great public services in the digital era.
In one way or another, HM Revenue and Customs touches the lives of almost every adult in the UK. In this episode, we sit down with Myrtle Lloyd, HMRC’s director general for customer services, to hear about the challenges and complexities of designing services that need to work for everyone. We also hear some examples of transformation that Myrtle has led and what success looks like for her – and for HMRC as a whole.
Hosted by Jess Bowie, editor-in-chief of Civil Service World, and Jo Thomson, partner – customer transformation at KPMG.
Recorded and produced by Podot.

In this episode we speak to Heidi Edwards, assistant head of AI skills and talent at the Defence AI Centre in the Ministry of Defence, to find out how a new way of learning is helping to grow AI skills across all parts of the MoD.
We also discuss what an AI ready workforce would look like in terms of skills, culture and leadership with Heidi and Olivia Lory Kay, director of workforce development at Capita.

This episode is sponsored by Capita.
Hosted by Suzannah Brecknell, editor-in-chief, Civil Service World.
Edited and produced by Podot.