Institute for Government

This event was held at the 2024 Labour Party Conference in Liverpool. Speakers: Jim McMahon MP, Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government) Kim McGuinness, Mayor of the North East Professor Richard Jones, Vice-President for Regional Innovation and Civic Engagement at The University of Manchester Jen Williams, Northern England Correspondent at the Financial Times This event was ch...

This event was held at the 2024 Labour Party Conference in Liverpool. Speakers: Georgia Gould MP, Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office) Dan Butler, Head of Government Affairs at Google Cloud UK Nick Davies, Programme Director at the Institute for Government Professor Mark Thompson, Professor of Digital Economy at the University of Exeter This event was chaired by Emma Norris, Deputy Director of...

This event was held at the 2024 Labour Party Conference in Liverpool. Speakers: Andrew Gwynne MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care) Nick Davies, Programme Director at the Institute for Government Dr Jennifer Dixon DBE, Chief Executive of The Health Foundation Paul Kissack, Group Chief Executive of Joseph Rowntree Foundation This event was chaired by Emma Norris,...

This event was held at the 2024 Labour Party Conference in Liverpool. Speakers: Lord Patrick Vallance, Minister of State for Science, Research and Innovation Peter Foster, Public Policy Editor at the Financial Times Professor Mary Ryan, Vice-Provost (Research and Enterprise) at Imperial College London Giles Wilkes, Senior Fellow at the Institute for Government This event was chaired by Dr Gemma Te...

This event was held at the 2024 Labour Party Conference in Liverpool. Speakers: Dame Meg Hillier MP, Chair of the Treasury Select Committee Thomas Pope, Deputy Chief Economist at the Institute for Government Tom Sasse, Britain Public Policy Editor at The Economist Moira Wallace, former Permanent Secretary This event was chaired by Dr Gemma Tetlow, Chief Economist at the Institute for Government. T...

This event was held at the 2024 Labour Party Conference in Liverpool. Speakers: Rt Hon Darren Jones MP, Chief Secretary to the Treasury Anita Charlesworth, Director of Research and the REAL Centre (Research and Economic Analysis for the Long term) at the Health Foundation Thomas Pope, Deputy Chief Economist at the Institute for Government Phillip Woolley, Partner at Grant Thornton UK LLP This even...

With Labour seeking to reassert its credentials around upholding public standards - and avoid standards issues distracting from its wider agenda for government – a significant reset is required. This event explored how key reforms such as the creation of the long-promised Ethics and Integrity Commission and establishment of the Modernisation Committee will work and what else needs to be done to re...

The UK’s productivity record since the financial crisis has been dismal. In the long term, the country cannot become more prosperous and afford the public services it needs without reversing this trend. The new Labour government has committed to boosting growth as one of its five missions for government and set out its intention to put industrial strategy at the heart of its policy making. But how...

Britain’s housing market is unfair. House prices are over eight times average earnings. Social housebuilding rates have sharply declined, and homelessness is high. How can the Liberal Democrats ensure the government delivers the sustainable and affordable housing Britain needs? Speakers: Lee Dillon MP, Member of Parliament for Newbury Max Wilkinson MP, Member of Parliament for Cheltenham Anna Clar...

Civil servants are already using AI for a variety of purposes, from summarising and analysing data to drafting correspondence. The new Labour government sees AI as a route to greater productivity and growth, both within government and beyond. Bringing together the themes of two private roundtables hosted by the Institute for Government in partnership with Scott Logic, this public event explored th...

The biggest challenges UK government faces, from tackling low economic growth to addressing regional inequalities, adapting to climate change and transforming public service performance, will need to be addressed by harnessing the insight and expertise of people from outside government itself. So what can be done to bring more external expertise into the heart of government? This event explored a...

The government’s approach to procurement is entering a new era. Significant reforms to the UK's post-Brexit procurement legislation, set out in the Procurement Act, will redefine how public sector organisations acquire goods, services, and human resources as new rules and opportunities emerge. So with almost £400bn a year spent on public procurement, how ready are public bodies and suppliers for t...

Keir Starmer has appointed more than 100 ministers to his government since Labour won the general election on 4 July. Some were ministers in the last Labour government; for many this was their first time in ministerial office. So, who makes up this latest generation of government ministers? And who held office before them? The Institute for Government’s brand new Ministers Database holds informati...

Spending reviews, which decide how at least half a trillion pounds of annual public spending should be allocated across different public services, are one of the most consequential processes in government. The new government has announced a new review, to conclude in Spring 2025, that will determine departmental budgets for much of the current parliament. But how should ministers choose how to pri...

The chancellor has set out her audit of public spending to MPs. Revealing what she calls a multi-billion pound “black hole” in the government finances, Rachel Reeves has vowed “to fix the mess we inherited” from the Conservative government. So do these sums add up and what do they mean for public services? Should this inheritance come as a surprise to Labour and what does it mean for the party’s m...

A daunting public services to-do list awaits Keir Starmer and his newly-elected Labour government. Most services are performing worse than on the eve of the pandemic and substantially worse than in 2010, but future funding is set to be tight. Ministers will need to make best use of existing budgets and carefully choose targets for any additional investment. So what are the most pressing public ser...

The King’s Speech on 17 July set out Sir Keir Starmer’s legislative agenda for government and revealed his priorities for the parliamentary session. While Labour’s attention and resources have been focused on the general election campaign, Starmer and his team will also have been preparing for this major constitutional moment. Legislation to nationalise the railways, reform planning, and establish...

Since 2010 the UK’s capital spending on prisons, hospitals and schools has been consistently lower than many other countries – leading to crumbling buildings, creaking IT and a lack of equipment. But the size of the budgets is only part of the problem – these budgets have also been badly spent. This will continue to hamper public service performance unless the new government takes a new approach t...

A general election brings the appointment of a whole host of new ministers, and on day one in government they begin a job like no other. Former shadow ministers may be familiar with their new policy portfolio, but ministerial life is very different to opposition. The switch from leading a small team to heading up departments with hundreds or thousands of civil servants, and from issuing press rele...

Keir Starmer used his first speech as prime minister to declare that the “work of change begins immediately”. But how will the Labour government approach the complex policy challenges that it has inherited? And how will it start making progress on new promises? From freeing up space in crowded prisons to turning around struggling public services, delivering clean energy and kickstarting economic g...

Follow our live-blog for all our general election coverage: https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/live-blog/general-election-2024 We hosted a special livestreamed recording of the Institute for Government podcast, as a team of IfG experts – bleary eyed but full of coffee – gathered in the podcast studio to make sense of a momentous night in British politics. What does the general election resu...

This Friday will be day one in government for the winner of the general election. But there will be no chance for anyone to catch their breath after a gruelling campaign. The job begins at once. So what should civil servants be braced to expect as ministers are appointed to their new roles? How can special advisers best prepare for that frenetic first 24 hours? And what actually awaits a prime min...

Episode 6 explores the first days, weeks and months of a new government. We speak to those who've entered No.10 alongside the prime minister on day one, found themselves suddenly running a government department, or have welcomed a brand new political team into office as a senior civil servant, including: Ed Balls, Jonathan Powell, Gus O'Donnell, Harriet Harman, Polly Mackenzie and Nick Macpherson....

Episode 5 explores the role that manifestos play in – and after – an election campaign. How do political parties write their manifestos? What does a good manifesto look like? What are the questions that Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer will be considering when signing off on their manifestos for the 2024 general election? And how hard is it to deliver manifesto promises once a government is formed? Pa...

Episode 4 explores how the governing party prepares for an election while continuing to govern, with ministers, civil servants and special advisers – including Oliver Letwin, Harriet Harman, Gus O'Donnell, Polly Mackenzie and Nick Macpherson – revealing how they approached the work of government during an election campaign. How does a governing party balance a gruelling campaign alongside running...