After working for two years for a road construction firm, he returned to education at 18 to study his O-levels and A-levels at Huddersfield Technical College.

[citation needed] He started his graduate working life on the 'fast tracked' geneal management trainee scheme in the National Health Service.

In 2020 Scriven was awarded an honorary doctorate from Manchester Metropolitan University for his services to public sector reform and international LGBT asylum issues.

[citation needed] Scriven was elected to Sheffield City Council in May 2000 for the Broomhill ward and became Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group in 2002.

[6] In April 2011, The Guardian newspaper described Scriven as the "closest ally in local government" to Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg MP.

[1] In the May 2011 local elections in Sheffield, Labour regained control of the Council and Scriven resigned as Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group.

Scriven was outspoken in pursuit of holding Conservative Ministers to account for the cronyism in awarding of contracts during the pandemic via the "fast track" channel.