Senior UK civil servant Lucy Smith has been appointed as the third Heywood Fellow at the Blavatnik School of Government and Hertford College.
The Fellowship was created by the Heywood Foundation in memory of Jeremy Heywood, Cabinet Secretary from 2012 to 2018. The Fellowship gives a senior UK civil servant (a Permanent Secretary or Director General) the opportunity to explore issues relating to public service and policy outside of their immediate government duties.
During her fellowship, Lucy will examine how governments can succeed at long term strategy. This is driven by the recognition that strategies developed now need to succeed in contexts that are profoundly different from today, and reflect the evolving needs, beliefs and hopes of citizens.
Lucy will consider how governments come to a national view of what really matters over longer time horizons, the ways governments can best confront and tackle future problems, and how the configuration, mechanisms and capabilities of the state can best enable the pursuit and delivery of long-term outcomes for citizens.
Ngaire Woods, founding Dean of the Blavatnik School of Government, said:
“We are thrilled to welcome Lucy to the Blavatnik School as a Heywood Fellow to continue Jeremy Heywood’s profound legacy. It is fantastic to work alongside the Heywood Foundation to give those at the heart of the machinery of government the chance to think about how it can be rewired to work better for citizens.”
Suzanne Heywood, the Chair of the Heywood Foundation, said:
“The Heywood Foundation is delighted to support Lucy’s fellowship and very much looking forward to seeing her thinking, at a time when long term strategic thinking is ever more important for policy makers.”
Lucy Smith, new Heywood Fellow and former Director General at the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said:
“I am delighted to be appointed as the next Heywood Fellow. I was lucky to learn from Jeremy that relentless curiosity and appetite for new and better ways of doing things is a vital part of successful government. To explore such a significant question of policy and practice as part of his legacy is a great privilege. I am also delighted to be following Jonathan Black as the previous fellow, and to build on his important work seeking a deeper integration of policy-making across domains in response to global strategic challenges.”
Tom Fletcher, Principal of Hertford College, said:
“Hertford is very proud to be associated with the Heywood Foundation, and of the legacy of our much-missed alumnus Jeremy Heywood. We look forward to joining the Blavatnik School of Government in welcoming Lucy Smith to Oxford to continue this partnership.”
Lucy will undertake this work during a nine-month period of special leave from the UK Civil Service, during which she will be based at the Blavatnik School. For the duration of the work Lucy will also be associated with Hertford College, Oxford, Lord Heywood’s former college.
Jeremy Heywood – Lord Heywood of Whitehall – served as Cabinet Secretary from January 2012 to October 2018. He was also Head of the Civil Service from September 2014. Jeremy Heywood had previously served three Prime Ministers in 10 Downing Street as Principal Private Secretary to Tony Blair (1998–2003) and Permanent Secretary in Number 10 to Gordon Brown (2008–10) and to David Cameron (2010–12). In previous roles in the Civil Service, Jeremy Heywood served as Principal Private Secretary to successive Chancellors of the Exchequer, Norman Lamont (1991–3) and Kenneth Clarke (1993–4). Jeremy Heywood was committed to innovation in public service and to broadening the civil service so that its diversity more fully represented the citizens it serves.
These priorities lie at the heart of the work of the Heywood Foundation which was established in Jeremy’s memory to support innovation in public policy and diversity in the public sector. The Foundation has supported two previous Heywood Fellows and also publishes the Heywood Quarterly, which focused on innovation in public policy.
Lucy Smith is the Heywood Fellow. Her career has been rooted in the leadership of strategy in government and expertise in governance and political systems. She was Director General for Strategy at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs from 2020 to 2024. From 2012 to 2020, Lucy held senior roles at the Cabinet Office, first as Principal Private Secretary to the Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg during the Coalition Government, and from 2015 onwards – both as Constitution Director and then Director General of UK Governance Group – as principal adviser in government on the constitution, devolution, intergovernmental relations, elections and the democratic process. Lucy spent the early part of her career in the Department for Education in a number of roles, including Director of Strategy from 2010-2012.
