Sir Paul Grice takes top honour at Scottish Public Service Awards

Former Chief Executive of Scottish Parliament Sir Paul Grice was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award at last night’s Scottish Public Service Awards, which celebrates outstanding achievement across Scotland’s civil landscape.

Hundreds gathered in Scottish Parliament’s Garden Lobby on Wednesday evening to celebrate the sixth annual awards, which are organised by Holyrood Communications, the Scottish Government and Scottish Parliament.

Opening the event, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said Scotland was “lucky to have such dedicated, professional and hard-working public servants”.

“As First Minister I see on a daily basis the incredible contribution that you make to our society and so I think it’s absolutely right that we celebrate that contribution through these awards,” she said.

“Each of tonight’s finalists, across the 13 categories, has demonstrated excellence in public service. In doing so you have helped to make a huge difference to the lives of people in communities across the country.

“So I want to congratulate you all on your various achievements, I want to thank you for helping to make Scotland a fairer more prosperous country and I want to wish each and every one of you all the very best for this evening and I hope you have a great night, you certainly earned it.”

There were 13 winners, including NHS 24 taking out the Campbell Christie Public Service Reform Award for its Mental Health Hub initiative, Derek Flood of Inverclyde Health and Social Care Partnership winning the Leadership Award, Mhairi Gavin of Scottish Parliament winning the Rising Start Award and the Colin Mair Award for Policy in Practice went to Inverclyde HSCP and Ardgowan Hospice for support to Compassionate Inverclyde.

Grice was Clerk and Chief Executive of the Scottish Parliament since its inception in 1999 before stepping down from the role in September to become Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Queen Margaret University. He also received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Holyrood Garden Party and Political Awards in June.

The winners:

Campbell Christie Public Service Reform Award – Mental Health Hub, NHS 24

Community Engagement Award – Team Up to Clean Up, Renfrewshire Council

Third Sector Partnership Award – MCR Pathways Mentoring Programme, MCR Pathways and Glasgow City Council

Project and Programme Management Award – Forestry Devolution Programme, Scottish Government

Leadership Award – Derek Flood, Inverclyde Health and Social Care Partnership

Communications Award – Domestic Abuse Campaign, Scottish Government

Digital Public Services Award – BP Monitoring, NSS Integration Team

Championing Gender Equality Award – Period and Menopause Policy, the Scottish Parliament

Rising Star Award – Mhairi Gavin, Scottish Parliament

Employee Development and Skills Award – Project Management Qualification for Local Government, Scotland Excel, Improvement Service & East Renfrewshire Council

Colin Mair Award for Policy in Practice – Inverclyde HSCP and Ardgowan Hospice for support to Compassionate Inverclyde, Inverclyde HSCP and Ardgowan Hospice

Commercial Partnerships Award – Access to Free Sanitary Products, Scottish Government, FareShare Scotland and Hey Girls

Lifetime Achievement Award – Sir Paul Grice