Sue Street retires from Whitehall after a 25-year career in the civil service at the end of this month.

In her interview with this edition of Whitehall & Westminster World, the outgoing permanent secretary of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport freely admits that many believe her departure “sends out a negative signal”. After all, her decision to take early retirement means that there is just one woman permanent secretary – Helen Ghosh at Defra. Hardly a statistic that reflects well on the civil service’s commitment to diversity.

Street, however, makes the important point that her career should, in actual fact, serve to encourage younger women civil servants to stay the course. “I had six years out raising my kids. I’m not someone who sacrificed everything to climb the ladder,” she points out.
Street, who is looking forward to a beginning a portfolio career in the private and public sector,  also had four years out of Whitehall working for PriceWaterhouseCoopers, the global accountancy and consultancy firm, and in January she starts work as a strategic adviser to Deloitte. With this in mind, many should pay attention to her comments about Whitehall’s increasing use of such consultancies. “I think the civil service has to be a far more intelligent client,” she says.

“If we are very discerning and clear about what we want, then yes, it is very healthy to buy in intellectual or operational expertise as and when you need it. I think there should be a healthy use of consultants, but with a more discerning client base, otherwise you pay too much for too little.” Civil service unions and many in the opposition would doubtless agree with such sentiments.