Behind the Scenes of Policy Creation: Masterclass with Senior Civil Servant Tamara Finkelstein CB

Kashaf studies Politics, Philosophy, and Law at King’s College London. Having worked with children and young people and volunteering for her local community, she is greatly passionate about developing her political awareness to further the interests of disadvantaged communities and use her platform to raise awareness. Her political area of interest is devolution, the importance of regional parties, and their wider impact on Westminster.

Whilst we tend to focus on individual politicians as the face of policy, we often forget the team and the people behind them supporting this process. Tamara Finkelstein CB, the Permanent Secretary for DEFRA, was a reminder of the important work and research done throughout policy creation and the distinctive role the Civil Service plays in supporting politicians. As Ms Finkelstein stated herself, the government sets the outcome, and the Civil Service helps to advise and achieve it. 

Ms Finkelstein is an emulation of what it means to be a Senior Civil Servant, upholding the Civil Service Code of impartiality, and whilst remaining apolitical, it didn’t stop us from understanding who Ms Finkelstein was and what she stood for through learning about career journey and various roles. Her journey is an experienced one, working with various political parties and across different departments, a reflection of her academics with her role in the treasury after completing a Master’s in Economics and a reflection of her interests and concerns with her role as Lead of the Building Safety Program after the Grenfell tragedy and her now current role as Permanent Secretary of DEFRA. 

A key takeaway from Ms Finkelstein’s Masterclass was the idea of continual learning and development done through experience and and confidence building, sharing her own journey from notable work in the treasury. She stated learning more about her role after leaving and working outside the department, that outward lens and shift in perspective highlighted her openness to change and seeking out new ways to work with and for others.

The discussion touched upon how the Civil Service is a large workplace, and it can feel like you have no agency, which is something we can either relate to, or a worry we have when entering a new workplace. However, alongside this, Ms Finkelstein shared some supportive and relevant advice. Stating the need of making sure to ask for help and continuing to learn from our experiences, and whilst she is now in a senior position by being a Permanent Secretary, her journey till now was one that required her to work with others and as such emphasised in always asking for help from those around us. More importantly, she affirmed the importance of confidence where, in order to do well and thrive we should be confident in ourselves and our decisions, and whilst when we are given feedback it is easy to dwell and focus on the criticism, when instead we should focus on and see the positives too. These are ways we can build our endurance and something we all need a reminder of when we get caught up in our pursuits and goals.

Our cohort’s Masterclass ended with a lovely dinner which Ms Finkelstein joined. Throughout the dinner we engaged in some light discussions as a cohort on topics like what policies we’d introduce, a chance to understand the concerns and insight of our fellow peers and also finding common ground on concern over education and opportunity for young people. This dinner was enjoyable, and a chance to share our individual experience and know more about the diverse range of background we all come from to make up such a lovely cohort. 

On behalf of our cohort, I would like to express our gratitude to Ms Finkelstein for taking out time from her busy schedule to attend our Masterclass and share her experiences and inspire us all with her honest advice.