We asked each member of our leadership team what they were looking forward to in the next financial year:
“Looking ahead, we are determined to move the dial – deliver clear improvements in services that matter to the people of Wales, by focusing on agreed priorities with our key partners: Welsh Government, local government, health and care and arm’s length bodies.
This will include:
- ensuring the investment in CDPS pays off: we have been successful in recruiting digital skills in Wales and are staffed with a great permanent team – our focus now is on long-term cost effective and dedicated delivery
- extending the reach and impact of the Digital Service Standards for Wales and embedding these will lead to improvements in services, value for money and relevance to users of public services
- strengthening partnerships and building commitment to change by demonstrating the benefits of modernisation
- running an exemplary organisation that shares its resources and expertise to help others
- using our resources and expertise to support better policy design and delivery and support Wales's national ambitions”
“I am excited to build upon the solid foundations we have established with Agile and user-centred practices. In 2023 to 2024, we grew as a team and set our ways of working to position ourselves to deliver on our strategic priorities.
This year we will scale our practices and work to have deeper impact across Wales. I am excited to see the difference we make this year.”
“Over the last 9 months or so, within operations, we have seen our team grow with specialist knowledge and skills, whilst our services have become more user focused which has been fantastic to be a part of.
Looking to the year ahead, we are really excited to build on this momentum and seek to refine, improve and showcase our services and support to our colleagues, board and stakeholders.
This year will also be the first time we formally consult and report on our Well-being of Future Generations Act objectives which is something we are proud to be embarking on.”
“I’m really excited about our plans to expand our reach in 2024 to 2025. Our high-performing training courses will evolve and will also be available as self-serve learning opportunities and our new programme ‘Leading modern public services’ is going to connect people that make the strategic decisions that improve services for Wales.
I’m also really excited about how our apprenticeship scheme will grow to support other organisations to increase their digital capabilities through partnerships and skill-sharing.”
“We’ve taken great strides this year forming some amazing strategic partnerships and breaking out of our echo chamber with events such as our AI webinars and joining forces with existing groups to strengthen our communities of practice.
This year I’m excited to build on that; our stakeholder strategy has identified great people and organisations, where there is mutual benefit for collaboration. I’m also excited about the range of activity planned which all has to be communicated – from delivery to skills and standards to the growth and expansion of our communities.
With a new First Minister of Wales, and cabinet secretary with responsibility for digital, I’m looking forward to raising our profile and ensuring we’re effectively telling the story that digital isn’t a bolt on, but something that is a real enabler in what will be a very tough financial year for lots of organisations.”
“I'm excited by the engagement we're seeing with assessments. We're hearing from more and more people who want to see what applying the Digital Service Standards for Wales in their teams, organisations and services looks like and how they can improve. As we scale up, we'll impact more services, identify more gaps and build the knowledge and experience we can offer. It's a positive feedback loop that will see our impact snowball as we connect the dots between standards, the service manual, and our communities of practice.”