Department for Education: Civil Servants

The Civil Service Policy Profession's vision is "better policy making that delivers better outcomes for the public". To meet this aim, the Civil Service Policy Profession Unit supports the professional capability of policy professionals and the improvement of policy making systems across the UK in government departments, agencies and devolved governments.

The Unit, based in the department and working to its Permanent Secretary and Head of Policy Profession, Susan Acland-Hood, has defined a professional standards framework for the profession and delivers impact through a portfolio of activities focussed around three pillars: Training and Accreditation, Policy in Practice and Pride in the Profession.

The Unit’s activities include:

• Delivering ‘Policy 101’, an awareness level course for those new to policy making and for other professions.
• Designing a new universal policy learning offer, providing training across the whole of the policy process.
• Providing accredited postgraduate-level learning, delivered through UK universities.
• Building regional policy networks and supporting departments to improve policy capability.
• Offering profession-specific learning for the Policy Fast Stream.
• Running an annual Policy Festival and a year-round series of masterclasses.
• Working alongside the Future Civil Service Programme to consider how best to harness artificial intelligence to support better policy making.

Impact is assessed through a range of measures including participant engagement, learner feedback and learner hours completed. The projected costs of the Unit’s activities in 2026/27 are £3.7 million. This covers direct costs of the activities above plus staff costs and is funded through contributions from government departments and devolved governments.