The story of I came to use those two words sincerely.
When I was growing up my impression of the Civil Service and Civil Servants was of a old fashioned bureaucratic institution and oxbridge taught faceless individuals. My only references to them being television programmes such as Yes Minister & the Thick Of It, and the news. Even with this impression I had always been interested in politics and I how I could be involved to help others.
My desire to help others had led me in college to study Health & Social Care and then Sociology at university. During this time though I did not have a clear idea on what exactly I wanted to do career wise, and after a difficult period where I lost some of my sight and had to leave university I was stuck on what I wanted to do. I did some admin work at a couple of charities which I enjoyed but I wanted to do more.
Then one cold February evening, I was mindlessly scrolling through social media and I came across an advert for Civil Service Apprenticeships. Intrigued about what this could include, I clicked on it. I was met with a huge variety of options, for those with varying qualifications. Then I saw a Policy Apprenticeship which peaked my interest. A chance to work in the heart of government and to work on policies/schemes for the benefit of the public.
Quite unlike me, I took a spontaneous chance and applied. The application process was a long one, which included at one point having to travel from Wigan to a suburb of Newcastle for the interview day. I had not been confident I would get on the apprenticeship but the interview day had gone well. I was able to complete the test paper and I had played my part in the group interview without issue. Then in August, I got a phone call offering me a post at one of the main government departments in London. Initially I was worried as I had applied to get a post in Manchester but then I also felt I could not miss the opportunity. It would be a big step into the unknown but something was telling me to go for it.
So I arrived in London, greeted by not just a new city but a new world. The learning curve was steep, in the first meeting I attended, I understood less than 20% of what was being said but still had to write the minutes of it. I found the Civil Service, whilst large and complicated to be a forward thinking institution. And I found Civil Servants on the whole to be dedicated, caring individuals with no desire for the limelight that politicians can sometimes receive.
I learnt to not only write minutes properly but to also write briefings for and submissions to ministers. One day I was last minute asked to take the minutes of a meeting, the difference this time being it was a meeting with a minister (and in the Houses of Parliament). I was nervous but the minister was friendly and although the pace she talked at made taking minutes difficult, it went fine. At the end when the minister was making decisions and giving instructions, I heard those two words for the first time in a real context when a colleague replied to her ’yes minister’. It was said not in a joking manner but a serious one. I learnt they were in fact saying ‘I have heard you and will do what you said’. It took me by surprise, I wanted to giggle when they said it but I managed to hold back.
Fast forward a while later, I was in a meeting again with a minister representing my team. At the end of it he was giving instructions to different people and then suddenly he spoke to me. He asked for my team to write something for him and without thinking or hesitation I replied ’yes minister’.