A wider spectrum: Five minutes with Richard Prager, chief scientific advisor at the UK Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
In this sister series to our ‘Five minutes with’ interviews, we share insights from the civil and public service leaders who will speak at our Innovation conference. Taking place in London on 25 and 26 March, attendees will hear about how their peers are developing new approaches to policymaking and service delivery.
In this interview, Richard Prager, chief scientific advisor, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government – who will speak at Innovation 2025 in the session Putting evidence at the heart of policymaking tomorrow – tells GGF about his wish to see civil servants come from a wider spectrum of disciplinary backgrounds, cross-departmental initiatives, and who he’d invite to his dream dinner party.
Click here to find out more and register for Innovation 2025
What advice would you give someone starting out in the civil service?
Focus on things that you find easy. Some other people will find them difficult. This way you will be more productive than if you focus on things that you find difficult.
What do you like most about working in the civil service?
The fact that it has such a strong focus on ED&I.
How might the civil service be different in 25 years’ time?
There will be more intellectual breadth. Officials will still be incredibly talented, but they will come from a wider spectrum of disciplinary backgrounds.
If you could introduce one civil service reform, what would it be?
Make it easier for there to be cross-departmental initiatives at all levels in the organisation.
Which country’s civil service are you most inspired by and why?
Estonia’s work on integrated national digital infrastructure is amazing.
Are there any processes in the UK that might be valuable to your peers overseas?
The way the transition is handled in this country during and after a general election is particularly impressive.
What is your favourite book?
Lost Horizon by James Hilton.
Which three famous people, alive or dead, would you most like to invite to a dinner party?
Scientists and Nobel Prize winners Alan Hodgkin and Marie Curie, and Dorothy Vaughan, a mathematician and ‘human computer’ who was the first African-American woman to be promoted to supervisor at NASA’s Langley Research Center.
What is your favourite thing to do at the weekend?
Cycle to a tea shop, eat cake, then cycle home again.
Click here to find out more and register for Innovation 2025
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