CIVIL SERVANT Ravi Chand is on a mission: to bring civil service closer to the people and deliver better services keeping the local needs in mind.
He feels that location should never be a barrier while implementing policies and delivering services.
Currently a director at the Cabinet Office, in charge of the Civil Service People and Places Directorate, Chand is leading the government's Places for Growth portfolio, a programme that aims to create a civil service rooted in local communities.
The programme is delivering on the government's commitment to move 22,000 Civil Service roles and 50 per cent of senior civil service roles out of London by 2030.
Chand, who is at the forefront of this mission, told the GG2 Power List last year that the programme has exceeded expectations.
“The programme overall has been hugely successful, so much so that the timeline has been accelerated from 2030 to 2027, thus bringing it forward. We have already delivered the relocation of 16,000 posts from London, many of which are senior roles,” he revealed, adding: “We are now beginning to see genuine impact in places.”
The programme is trying to “push decision-making power” beyond London into different parts of the UK, predominantly in cities like Edinburgh, Glasgow, Belfast, Cardiff, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham.
As for challenges, he acknowledged that it takes a lot to build confidence among senior officials in Whitehall and ministers to genuinely believe a role can be done at the most senior levels in a different part of the UK with occasional travel into London, with video calls taking care of the bulk of interactions.
Another area that Places for Growth wants to focus on is thematic hub and campus development. The aim is to build sustainable future careers for the existing civil servants and the potential recruits.
He feels that campaigns like the Future Leaders Scheme have the potential to attract a more diverse workforce that might not have otherwise considered a senior civil service role.
Chand has been a proud advocate of the civil service and wants young people to consider it if they want to contribute meaningfully to the country and have the skills needed for a “career for life.”
He credits his leadership qualities to his early years in the police force that also taught him how to get things done on the ground. He spent 14 years at Bedfordshire Police, before moving to the Home Office as an HR director.
Before joining the Cabinet Office in May 2020, he served as chief people officer at the Department for International Development, and HR director for workforce management at HM Revenue & Customs, where he orchestrated one of the government's most ambitious transformation programmes – consolidating 170 offices into just 13 regional centres while managing a workforce of 66,000 and recruiting 17,000 new staff in just two years.
Chand was recognised in the Honours List in 2002 with the Queen's Police Medal for distinguished service and made a CBE in the 2011 New Year's Honours List.
