Episoder
-
The government’s devolution white paper – published on 16 December – will set out the detail of Labour’s promised ‘devolution revolution’. Ministers plan to further empower England’s existing 12 metro mayors, to extend devolution to the whole of England, and to reorganise local government.
But what exactly will the white paper commit the government to do? Which powers will be devolved, to where? How will mayors be involved in delivering the government’s growth, energy and public service missions? How will the proposed reforms to local government work? And what challenges lie ahead for the government in implementing this ambitious agenda?
The panel:
Matthew Fright, Senior Researcher at the Institute for Government
Rebecca McKee, Senior Researcher at the Institute for Government
Akash Paun, Programme Director at the Institute for Government
Thomas Pope, Deputy Chief Economist at the Institute for Government -
The government has set out its intention to support the civil service with the necessary tools to deliver for the public. As the IfG has argued, reforms to improve the capability of the civil service are needed – particularly in a tight fiscal situation where efficient and effective government is essential. We believe there are a variety of areas for attention. These include reducing staff churn, improving external recruitment, and seizing the opportunities of new technology.
How is the civil service planning to address these questions while supporting the government’s agenda and delivering the prime minister’s promise to build a ‘government of service’? How can issues, like pay and lower morale, be addressed? And what will the civil service look like in 2030?
We were delighted to host Cat Little, Civil Service Chief Operating Officer and Cabinet Office Permanent Secretary, to discuss these questions and more. She was in conversation with IfG Director and CEO Dr Hannah White. -
Mangler du episoder?
-
The government has set out its intention to support the civil service with the necessary tools to deliver for the public. As the IfG has argued, reforms to improve the capability of the civil service are needed – particularly in a tight fiscal situation where efficient and effective government is essential. We believe there are a variety of areas for attention. These include reducing staff churn, improving external recruitment, and seizing the opportunities of new technology.
How is the civil service planning to address these questions while supporting the government’s agenda and delivering the prime minister’s promise to build a ‘government of service’? How can issues, like pay and lower morale, be addressed? And what will the civil service look like in 2030?
We were delighted to host Cat Little, Civil Service Chief Operating Officer and Cabinet Office Permanent Secretary, to discuss these questions and more. She was in conversation with IfG Director and CEO Dr Hannah White. -
Following weeks of interviews and much speculation, Sir Chris Wormald has been confirmed as the new cabinet secretary. After a long civil service career, including stints as permanent secretary at the Department of Health and Social Care and the Department for Education and Skills, Wormald will succeed Simon Case and begin work as the country's most senior civil servant. Keir Starmer has said that it “will require nothing less than the complete rewiring of the British state to deliver bold and ambitious long-term reforms” – so how can Wormald meet that challenge?
What is the best way for the new cabinet secretary to work with Keir Starmer and other senior ministers? How does a strong cabinet secretary add to the effectiveness of a government? How can Wormald change the way the civil service works so that it can best deliver the government's priorities? What steps can he take to restore civil service morale? And how might his experiences leading government departments help him approach the job of cabinet secretary?
This special IfG webinar answered these questions – and yours – with a brilliant panel featuring:
Dr Catherine Haddon, Programme Director at the Institute for Government
Sir David Lidington, Cabinet Office minister and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, 2018–19
Alex Thomas, Programme Director at the Institute for Government
The event was chaired by Emma Norris, Deputy Director of the Institute for Government. -
Thirty years ago, following a series of high-profile political scandals, John Major set up the Committee on Standards in Public Life (CSPL) to advise him – and future prime ministers – on ethics and behaviour. So has the CSPL been a success – and what might come next for standards in public life?
Over the last three decades the committee has been an influential voice on the standards expected of people in public office, including setting out the seven principles of public life that apply to politicians, public officials and frontline staff and the establishment of standards regulators including the parliamentary commissioner and the Electoral Commission.
However, recent scandals like ‘partygate’ and controversies over the acceptance of gifts, alongside reports from the infected blood and Grenfell inquiries, demonstrate that work on embedding transparency and ethical behaviour remains unfinished.
How can the committee respond to challenges posed by increased use of AI in the public sector? What more could be done to build greater trust in politicians and public services? And what difference could the Labour government’s planned Ethics and Integrity Commission make?
To answer these questions, and more, we were joined by:
Doug Chalmers CB DSO OBE, Chair of the Committee on Standards in Public Life
Pippa Crerar, Political Editor at The Guardian
Daniel Greenberg CB, Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards
Dame Glenys Stacey, Chair of the Office for Environmental Protection
The event was chaired by Tim Durrant, Programme Director at the Institute for Government. -
The Institute for Government was pleased to welcome Kate Forbes MSP, Deputy First Minister (DFM) of Scotland and Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Gaelic, for an 'in conversation' event on 18 November 2024.
The DFM reflected on the 10th anniversary of the Scottish independence referendum and the 25th anniversary of Scottish devolution. She also discussed the state of Scotland's economy and public services in light of the UK budget, and the Scottish government's policy and legislative agenda.
The DFM was in conversation with Akash Paun, Programme Director for Devolution, which was followed by Q&A with the live and online audience. -
The Labour government has inherited an NHS in crisis. Pre-existing challenges of growing demand, an ageing population, and high levels of staff vacancies have been exacerbated by the pandemic, resulting in record backlogs and waiting times.
With substantial increases in hospital funding and staffing failing to turn performance round, the new government must help the NHS through the immediate crisis, set it on a sustainable long-term footing and consider the need for more fundamental reform.
Should the NHS focus more on preventing, rather than treating, illness? Could the NHS become more local? Are the new Integrated Care Systems working or should they be reformed? How successful have past NHS reforms been?
To answer these questions and more we were joined by an expert panel, including:
Paul Corrigan, Expert adviser at the Department of Health and Social Care
Penny Dash, Chair of NHS North West London Integrated Care Board
Rachel Wolf, Founding Partner at Public First
Thomas Cawston, Corporate Affairs Lead at Novartis UK
The event was chaired by Nick Davies, Programme Director at the Institute for Government.
This event was kindly supported by Novartis Pharmaceuticals UK. -
An in conversation with Lord Blunkett, former Home Secretary and Secretary of State for Education and Employment, and Emma Norris, Deputy Director of the Institute for Government.
This event was part of the IfG's public services conference, kindly supported by UCL. -
On 30 October, the new government announced spending plans for 2025/26, with a spending review covering 2025/26 to 2027/28 due to be published in the spring. What are the implications of these spending plans for public service performance in 2025/26? What options should the spending review consider for raising revenue and boosting productivity? How can the government improve public services when funding is tight?
Rupert Harrison, former Chief of Staff to George Osborne and Chair of the UK’s Council of Economic Advisors (2010–15)
Paul Johnson, Director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies
Professor Henrietta Moore, Founder and Director of the UCL Institute for Global Prosperity
Rachel Sylvester, political columnist at The Times and Chair of the Times Health Commission
This session will be chaired by Nick Davies, Programme Director at the Institute for Government.
This event was part of the IfG's public services conference, kindly supported by UCL. -
Dissatisfaction with public services was a key reason for the Conservative defeat in the general election. How can the new party leader and frontbench regain public trust for running public services? What are the key elements of a distinctive Conservative vision for public services? How should the Conservative Party balance demands for higher public service spending and lower taxation?
Steve Brine, former Chair of Health and Social Care Committee
Rt Hon David Gauke, former Secretary of State for Justice
Rt Hon Baroness Nicky Morgan, former Secretary of State for Education
This session was chaired by Nick Davies, Programme Director at the Institute for Government.
This event was part of the IfG's public services conference, kindly supported by UCL. -
The new government faces an extremely challenging inheritance in the criminal justice system. How can trust in the police and charging rates be improved? How can criminal court backlogs be tackled? How can government improve conditions and capacity in prisons? How can individual criminal justice services work together more effectively? And does the new government have a plan to address these challenges?
Dr Karen Schucan Bird, Associate Professor at the UCL Social Research Institute
Penelope Gibbs, Director of Transform Justice
Lord Timpson OBE, Minister of State for Prisons, Probation and Reducing Reoffending
This session was chaired by Cassia Rowland, Senior Researcher at the Institute for Government.
This event was part of the IfG's public services conference, kindly supported by UCL. -
How can NHS backlogs be tackled and waiting times improved? What are the prospects for adult social care reform in this parliament? How can government ensure health and care services have sufficient workforces? Do health and care services have sufficient funding and is existing funding used effectively? To what extent can and should health services focus more on prevention? And to what extent do the government’s proposals address these challenges?
Dr Becks Fisher, Director of Research and Policy at Nuffield Trust
Professor Naomi Fulop, Professor of Health Care Organisation and Management at the UCL Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care
Preet Gill MP, former Shadow Minister for Primary Care and Public Health
Dame Una O'Brien, former Permanent Secretary in the Department of Health
This session was chaired by Stuart Hoddinott, Senior Researcher at the Institute for Government.
This event was part of the IfG's public services conference, kindly supported by UCL. -
The IfG team presented new analysis on the likely impact of the budget on public services performance. They also discussed the key questions facing the government ahead of the spending review, including widespread poor performance and record backlogs, tight funding settlements, industrial disputes, crumbling buildings, recruitment and retention problems, and resilience for future crises.
Stuart Hoddinott, Senior Researcher at the Institute for Government
Philip Nye, Senior Data Scientist at the Institute for Government
Cassia Rowland, Senior Researcher at the Institute for Government
This session was chaired by Emma Norris, Deputy Director of the Institute for Government.
This event was part of the IfG's public services conference, kindly supported by UCL. -
An in conversation with Rt Hon Michael Gove, Editor of the The Spectator and former Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, and Dr Hannah White, Director and CEO of the Institute for Government.
This event was part of the IfG's public services conference, kindly supported by UCL. -
The new government has put prevention at the heart of public service reform plans. So what difference could this approach make? By intervening sooner, problems may not escalate, become embedded, or arise in the first place – meaning preventative services could be a major contributor to public sector productivity.
With spending likely to be tight over the coming years, the theory behind an "invest to save" scheme is clear – but in practice it has been hard to implement, and cashable savings have often proved elusive.
This event brought together a panel of experts to discuss:
- Is it realistic to expect preventative programmes to deliver cashable savings?
- How quickly could a shift towards a more preventative approach improve public service productivity?
- What are the respective roles of the centre of government, departments, and frontline services in delivering this shift and realising productivity improvements?
- How can additional investments be made in prevention when acute demand is high and spending tight?
To discuss these questions and more, our panel included:
- Dr Thomas Waite, Deputy Chief Medical Officer
- Cllr Gillian Ford, Deputy Leader of Havering Council, Cabinet Member for Adults and Health
- Daniel Sperrin, Partner at Newton
- Moira Wallace, former Permanent Secretary
The event was chaired by Nick Davies, Programme Director at the Institute for Government.
We would like to thank Newton for kindly supporting this event. -
Rachel Reeves’ first budget promises to be one of the most consequential in years. Shortly after the chancellor addresses parliament, IfG experts examined her announcements and make sense of Reeves’ plans for the economy.
What decisions has she taken on new fiscal rules, tax measures and public services? What does this budget mean for the government’s growth mission? Does Reeves have a credible plan for fixing the public spending “black hole”? And what does this budget reveal about this government’s priorities?
The panel included:
Stuart Hoddinott, Senior Researcher at the Institute for Government
Thomas Pope, Deputy Chief Economist at the Institute for Government
Giles Wilkes, Senior Fellow at the Institute for Government
The event was chaired by Jill Rutter, Senior Fellow at the Institute for Government. -
From its creation in 1997 to its merger with the Foreign Office in 2020, the Department for International Development (DfID) managed nearly £200 billion in total and played a global leadership role in reducing poverty. While DfID also had to deal with high-profile failures and public criticism, sustained political support from Labour, coalition and Conservative governments helped the department to achieve a record of delivery during its 23-year existence.
A new book, The Rise and Fall of the Department for International Development, will be published in October. Sir Mark Lowcock, the book's co-author with Ranil Dissanayake, joined an expert panel at the Institute for Government to discuss what we can learn from DfID's history, with a particular focus on building the institution, how to maintain civil service capability, targeting resources and developing ways to measure value for money – with essential lessons for the new Labour government and what other departments can learn from DfID's focus on delivery.
Joining Sir Mark Lowcock on the panel were:
- Sarah Champion MP, Chair of the International Development Select Committee
- Andrew Mitchell MP, Shadow Foreign Secretary and former Secretary of State for International Development
The panel was chaired by Alex Thomas, Programme Director at the Institute for Government. -
Productivity in public services has never been more important. Most services are struggling to return to pre-pandemic performance levels, and the new Labour government have indicated that spending will remain tight. Improvements in performance will likely come from frontline workers finding new, innovative ways of delivering services.
So what can be done to improve productivity? By highlighting outstanding examples of innovation across public services, Productivity Pitches, a series of events hosted by the IfG, aims to share and support ways to improve performance levels.
This event was the fourth in the series and focused on local government.
Each speaker had 10 minutes to present their innovation, followed by 10 minutes of audience questions. The chair and a guest from the Productivity Institute – who are kindly supporting this event series – then brought together the common themes from the pitches and discussed the lessons for improving productivity.
The speakers for this edition of Productivity Pitches were:
Gill Wilson and Tim Pearse, London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, on joining up previously disparate datasets across the local authority to better understand the needs of their residents and forecast demand for their services. This allows them to support residents at an earlier stage and making the best use of scarce council resources.
Vicky Schofield and Cheryl Whitehouse, Wakefield Council children's services, on the council providing residential care and improving outcomes for care leavers. With the cost of commissioning children’s residential care with private providers increasing rapidly, Wakefield decided to operate and run its own children’s homes, with more stable staffing and fewer restrictions than traditional children’s homes. As a result, the cost of providing care has dropped dramatically and children have far better outcomes.
Cllr Bridget Smith, South Cambridgeshire Council, on the outcomes of shifting to a four-day working week. The Covid-19 pandemic led to the council changing the way that it worked, making better use of technology, flexible and home working. As a result, council employees now complete 100% of their work in 80% of the time. An independent evaluation of the reforms found that the council was performing better on 22 of 24 metrics, including a large drop in turnover and reduced use of expensive agency staff.
The event was chaired by Nick Davies, Programme Director at the Institute for Government. Andy Westwood, Professor of Public Policy, Government and Business at The University of Manchester joined the discussion of common themes.
Follow us on X (formerly known as Twitter) @IfGEvents or on Bluesky @instituteforgov.bsky.social, and join the conversation using #ProductivityPitches
Productivity Pitches is kindly supported by The Productivity Institute. -
The government has promised to restore the target to phase out the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles by 2030. The zero emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate also requires that 80% of new cars and 70% of new vans sold in Great Britain will have to be zero emission by 2030. However, car makers have expressed concerns about their ability to hit these targets without further support, and the sale of electric vehicles (EVs) is lagging behind the government target. So what are the barriers to EV uptake?
Charging infrastructure is one reason consumers hesitate to make the switch, with a lack of on-street charging, bottlenecks with motorway charging, as well as concerns about price differential and different rates of VAT for on- and off-street parking. More also needs to be done to ensure the electricity network can cope with demand, and that charge points can be easily and cheaply connected to the grid.
So what could be done to accelerate the rollout of EV charging infrastructure? How does the new government plan to address these challenges? And where in the country are these problems most acute?
To discuss these questions and more, our panel included:
Lilian Greenwood MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Minister for Future of Roads)
Rosa Hodgkin, Researcher at the Institute for Government
Ian Howells, Executive Vice President of Honda Motor Europe
Bharat Pathania, Head of New Technologies at Midlands Connect
This event was chaired by Nehal Davison, Programme Director at the Institute for Government. -
Labour’s first 100 days in power have been marked by reports of conflict, dysfunction and delay at the centre of government. Sue Gray’s short tenure as Keir Starmer’s chief of staff has come to an end, with the prime minister choosing to reset his No.10 team just months after Labour won the general election.
What reforms are needed to radically improve the centre of UK government? What does Morgan McSweeney – Starmer’s new chief of staff – need to do to make No.10 work for the prime minister and deliver for the country? What lessons should Starmer take from the way former PMs ran their centres of government – and from those who tried to reset their No.10?
To answer these questions and more were:
Tom Baldwin, author of Keir Starmer: The Biography and Labour’s Director of Communications (2010–15)
Theo Bertram, Director of the Social Market Foundation and a former Special Adviser in No.10
Henry Newman, former Special Adviser at the Cabinet Office and in No.10
Hannah White, Director of the Institute for Government and Chair of the Commission on the Centre of Government
The panel was chaired by Jill Rutter, Senior Fellow at the Institute for Government. - Se mer
