Dr Siriol David at Ministry of Justice wins Professional of the Year Award. The Civil Service Awards ceremony, in association with Ernst and Young and Huawei, was held on Wednesday evening at the Foreign Office’s Lancaster House in London.
Dr David, from Cardiff, has made a 30 year contribution to Psychological Services in Her Majesty’s Prison Service and is recognised particularly for her work in developing “through the gate” forensic psychological services in Wales. The service has improved the overall management of high risk offenders and promoted psychology in a wide range of settings and organisations. Dr David has worked extensively with universities to develop protocols for training placements and specific routes to qualification, which allow greater flexibility for both trainees and the organisation involved.
Sir Jeremy Heywood, Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service, said of her win: “Dr David is a wonderful and inspiring example of the Civil Service at its very best: brilliant people, quietly achieving exemplary results for the good of society. Congratulations.”
Professor Jamie Hacker Hughes, President Elect of the British Psychological Society, says of the win:
“I know that I speak for the whole Society when I say how delighted we are at Dr David’s award. British psychologists work, not just in health, education and research, as we are often perceived to do, but right across society. In common with many of her Civil Service psychologist colleagues working across the Government sector, Dr David has worked tirelessly for HMPS Prison Services, in Wales especially, throughout her career in Forensic Psychology. It is wonderful that her contribution has been recognised in this way.”
Dr David says: “I was honoured and delighted to receive the award. As part of the Ministry of Justice, I am extremely proud of the work we have achieved in Forensic Psychological Services, National Offender Management Service in Wales and to be leading such a skilled, innovative and committed team. “
The awards are the Civil Service’s opportunity to celebrate not just the winners, but the achievements of ordinary civil servants everywhere. Sir Jeremy Heywood said: “These are the people who keep the country running in a bewildering variety of different roles and locations, demonstrating a huge range of specialist skills, and remarkable levels of commitment and innovation”.
This year there was a near record 700 nominations, as well as a new award for volunteering, recognising the contribution of increasing numbers of civil servants who are committing their own time to improving the life of their communities.
Winners included the Troubled Families Team at the Department for Communities and Local Government. They have developed and implemented a national programme that has turned around the lives of more than 50,000 of the most troubles families in England since 2012.
Other winners include the team behind the Humanitarian Innovation & Evidence Programme at the Department for International Development. They won the Analysis and Use of Evidence Award, for excellence in knowledge management, as applied to decision-making, policy development and improving services. The humanitarian organisations that respond to natural and manmade disasters often have to do so with outdated tools and a lack of good evidence about which interventions are most effective. The DFID programme is working to change this, involving civil servants across the department, bringing in world-class research commissioning bodies, testing new interventions and improving accessibility to and use of evidence.
