IfG Events

The House of Lords is back in the spotlight. Boris Johnson’s resignation honours have reignited debates about the appointment process and the ability of politicians to hand life peerages to their friends, supporters and donors. Key figures across Westminster have called for stronger independent oversight of the appointment process. Labour Leader Keir Starmer has gone further, committing to replaci...

Following a turbulent two months in politics, policy and financial markets, on 17 November Jeremy Hunt presented the government’s autumn statement, alongside a new set of fiscal and economic forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). The following day the IfG hosted an event to react to the chancellor’s statement. We were delighted that to be joined by Ben Chu, Economics Editor at...

The public appointments system struggles to appoint candidates in a timely and efficient way. It has been dogged by controversy in recent years, from media speculation over the appointment of new chairs of Ofcom and the BBC to delays at the Charity Commission and the Competition and Markets Authority. Politicians, officials, candidates and the public have expressed frustration with the process. Th...

David Halpern, the ‘What Works’ National Adviser since 2013 and Chief Executive of the Behavioural Insights Team, has spent nearly a decade advising ministers and other leaders in government on using evidence to make better policy. As his term as national adviser comes to an end, he spoke at the Institute for Government to look back at the successes, failures and future prospects for doing ‘what w...

From u-turning on budgets to sacking chancellors, spooking the markets and seeing borrowing rates climb, it has been a dramatic, chaotic and, for many people, painful start to Liz Truss’s time as prime minister. What mistakes were made in the transition between Boris Johnson’s No.10 and Truss’s administration? Why were Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng so quick to disregard the value of institutions and ex...

The Institute for Government was delighted to welcome Michael Cockerell, the BBC broadcaster and political journalist whose award-winning political documentaries have taken viewers behind the scenes of British politics for nearly half a century. He has interviewed a dozen prime ministers from Macmillan to Johnson, and made films about leading politicians including Roy Jenkins, Enoch Powell Denis H...

Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng's tax-slashing plan for growth stunned MPs, commentators and economists alike on Friday - and sent the value of the pound plummeting. So just how big a gamble is his vision for the economy? Does his plan for easing the cost of energy crisis add up? And how long does Liz Truss have to convince voters that her policies will deliver growth?  The IfG economics team of Tom Pop...

The Institute for Government was delighted to welcome Dame Dr Jenny Harries OBE, Chief Executive of the UK Health Security Agency. After serving as the UK’s deputy Chief Medical Officer during the pandemic, Dr Harries took on leadership of the new UK Health Security Agency in April 2021. In conversation with Dr Matthew Gill, Programme Director at the Institute for Government, she discussed her vis...

Modelling and forecasting played a prominent role in the way policies were designed and decisions were made during the coronavirus pandemic. But the government’s handling of the crisis raised questions about how modelling - epidemiological and economic – was used by ministers. So how should models be produced and used within government? How should they be communicated to the public? And how well e...

The Institute for Government was delighted to host an event with the Office for Budget Responsibility to discuss their new Fiscal Risks and Sustainability Report. While the economic shocks of the Covid pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have been huge, there are many other factors likely to change the shape of the UK state and the demands placed on it in future. Some – such as the ageing of...

From housing to aviation, the digital economy to patient safety, ministers have a huge range of responsibilities. Yet little is known about how different ministers approach their roles and the reasons for these differences. How do ministers make decisions? How do they work with the civil service and devise policy? And how do they manage their teams? Dr John Boswell and Dr Jessica Smith of the Univ...

Ministers emphasise the need to create new manufacturing jobs. But from law and accountancy to retail and hospitality, the UK economy is predominantly services-based – with many high value services jobs concentrated in the South East. So how can the services sector contribute to economic growth across the UK? What can the government do to help service sector clusters thrive outside London and the...

James Brokenshire served in Theresa May’s cabinet between 2016 and 2019, first as Northern Ireland Secretary and then as Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government. In memory of James, who died in 2021, the former prime minister delivered a lecture at the Institute for Government reflecting on the theme of public service which was central to his life and career. Following the...

The government spends around £300bn a year – a third of all public expenditure – on procurement. Following the UK’s exit from the EU, the government has proposed major reforms to the rules governing public sector buying.   The government says the new Procurement Bill will create a simpler and more transparent system which makes it easier for SMEs to win contracts and for the government to disquali...

Equipping the UK workforce with the right skills will be critical to the success of the net zero transition, and the government has committed to reforming the skills system. What should those skills, and reforms, look like? How can the government make sure that the right skills are available in the right place at the right time? And what can it do to ensure that the opportunities of net zero are s...

The role of the Lord Chancellor is to protect and uphold the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary. Yet the position is held by a cabinet minister: the secretary of state for justice. This overlap between the independent judiciary and the political world, and the balance of power between parliament, government and the judiciary, is the source of much debate – and disagreement. So what...

As part of a special series of events on devolution and levelling up, featuring local leaders from across England, the Institute for Government is delighted to be joined by Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester. First elected in May 2017 and re-elected for a second term in May 2021, Andy Burnham discusses his role and priorities, the challenges of working with the UK government to level up the...

At the 2019 general election, the Conservative Party won votes in many places that had not traditionally voted Tory - with the promise to 'level up' the UK seen as a key factor. A recent white paper finally set out the government’s plan to turn the levelling up slogan into reality, including 12 missions to be achieved by 2030. But with the general election due in no more than two years, will the g...

From attending parties during the Covid-19 lockdown to taking payment for lobbying, some MPs seem to think the rules they set for others should not apply to them. Their procedures are complex, they are far from representative of the UK population, and many appear detached from the lives led by their constituents. So what can be done to reform the way the House of Commons works? How can MPs make th...

After the long years of counter-insurgency operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine means the United Kingdom once again faces a conflict in Europe. At the same time, China is taking an increasingly assertive approach to Taiwan. The government's response to this era of renewed global competition is the Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy. O...

Boris Johnson has set 'levelling up' the UK as the mission for his government, but few in Whitehall or the country can explain exactly what it is, how it will be implemented and what success looks like. Tackling regional inequalities lies at the heart of the Conservative Party's re-election hopes, but relies on the implementation of a complex series of policies across national and local government...

COP26 highlighted the critical role business and finance will play in driving the transition to a net zero economy. Businesses made new net zero commitments; regulators discussed how to tighten scrutiny of those commitments; and policy makers announced plans to mandate the publication of climate-related risks to business. So how can finance best help the transition to net zero? What can be done to...

As part of a special series of events on devolution and levelling up, featuring local leaders from across England, the Institute for Government was delighted to be joined by Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire and leader of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority. After just under a year in office, Tracy Brabin discussed her role as mayor, working with the UK government to make levelling up a real...

The future of the protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland remains uncertain, a year after it came fully into force. The arrangements continue to be a major source of tension in the post-Brexit UK-EU relationship and within Northern Ireland, with the first minister citing the DUP’s objections to the protocol for his recent resignation. The ongoing uncertainty around the protocol is having a real impac...

The Institute for Government recently published the ninth edition of our annual Whitehall Monitor report on the government’s size, shape and performance. This report launch explored what Whitehall Monitor 2022 reveals about the way the pandemic has changed how the government works and how the Covid-19 response will sit alongside ministers’ wider agenda for the second half of the parliament. How ha...