Ifg Events Podcast

One of the most common themes in Ministers Reflect interviews is the relationship between ministers and civil servants. From the importance of a good private office team, to civil servants’ poor understanding of parliament, to ongoing gripes around spelling and grammar, there are many things that ministers wish the civil service did differently. To discuss how the civil service can use Ministers Reflect to understand what ministers want, and how they can improve the support they offer, we were joined by: Chloe Smith MP, MP for Norwich North, and former minister at Department for Science, Innovation and Technology; Department for Work and Pensions; and Cabinet Office. Dame Una O’Brien DCB, former Permanent Secretary at the Department of Health and Social Care (then Department of Health) Alex Thomas, Programme Director at the Institute for Government This event was chaired by Dr Catherine Haddon, Programme Director at the Institute for Government. This event was part of the IfG's Ministers Reflect one-day c

Ministers Reflect interviews show us what governing looks like from the inside. They offer a range of perspectives on what being a minister actually involves on a day-to-day basis, the different aspects of the job, and how ministers develop their approach to the role over time. To explore ministerial life and what the archive reveals about it, we were joined by Leighton Andrews, Professor of Practice in Public Service Leadership at Cardiff University, and a former Minister for Education and Minister for Public Services in the Welsh government. Leighton not only uses Ministers Reflect interviews in his teaching about government and policy making, but is also drawing on the archive in a forthcoming book about ministerial leadership. Tim Durrant, Programme Director at the Institute for Government This event was part of the IfG's Ministers Reflect one-day conference.

Public services were hit hard by the pandemic, which exacerbated existing performance problems and pressures on staff. High inflation and widespread strikes have since caused further disruption. Ahead of the autumn statement, this event brought together an expert panel to discuss: How does public service performance compare to pre-pandemic levels? How can the government recruit and retain sufficient staff to improve public service performance? What are the key public service challenges that will be faced by the winner of the next election? As the Institute for Government and the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) publish the latest edition of Performance Tracker which features new analysis on the performance of public services, Nick Davies, Programme Director at the Institute for Government, presented the key findings. He was joined by Stephen Bush, Associate Editor and Columnist at the Financial Times, and Baroness Morris, Chair of the Lords Public Services Committee. The event

To mark the publication of her new book, The Women Who Made Modern Economics, Rachel Reeves MP sat down with IfG's Chief Economist, Dr Gemma Tetlow.

Twenty-five years after the Scotland Act established the devolved Scottish government and parliament, the future of devolution and Scotland’s place in the union remain contentious issues. The SNP continues to advocate for Scottish independence. Meanwhile, the UK government has pursued a strategy of ‘muscular unionism’. Scottish Labour has called for a new approach, based on greater cooperation between UK and Scottish governments, and for stronger local government within Scotland. So what does Scotland’s constitutional future hold? The Institute for Government was delighted to welcome Anas Sarwar MSP, Leader of the Scottish Labour Party. How can Scottish devolution be strengthened? What might a future Labour government at Westminster mean for relations with Holyrood? And what is Sarwar’s vision for Scotland’s place in a reformed union? To discuss these questions and more, Anas Sarwar was in conversation with Dr Hannah White, Director of the Institute for Government, followed by Q&A with the live and online a

If Scotland became independent, the nation would face some fundamental questions about the operation of its political system. It would need a new constitution; which the Scottish government proposes should be a written one, enshrining key rights and principles. And it would need to decide whether to re-join the EU, in line with the SNP’s position, with implications for the operation of the government, the role of the courts and parliamentary scrutiny. The event sought to answer some of the following key questions: What would the process for agreeing a codified constitution look like? How would popular sovereignty work in practice? How could a new constitution command cross-party and public consensus? How should the constitution be changed? Should Scotland re-join the EU? Should Scotland hold a referendum? What would re-joining the EU mean for Scotland and its political system? What can we learn from other countries? Speakers: Jamie Hepburn MSP, Minister for Independence Professor Anand Menon, D

Better use of data is key to more effective government. Across government, teams are doing fascinating work with data. But those projects don’t get the attention they deserve. Data Bites aims to change that. This event was the 46th in our series, where the speakers presented their work in an exciting, quickfire format. Each speaker had eight minutes, followed by eight minutes of questions from the audience. This month's speakers were: Prateek Buch, Head of Collective Intelligence at Policy Lab, on their approach to crowdsourcing knowledge Craig Campbell, High Streets Data Service Manager at the Greater London Authority, on adaptive re-use of data for adaptive re-use of high streets Caroline Kempner, Head of Data Transformation at the Department for Education, on automated daily school attendance data Becky Tinsley, Deputy Director of ONS Local and Coherence, and Emma Hickman, Deputy Director of Subnational Statistics and Analysis at the Office for National Statistics, on ONS's work on subnational statis

Questions about standards in public life have dominated politics in recent years. As Chair of the independent Committee on Standards in Public Life since 2018, Lord Evans KCB DL has been at the heart of these debates, leading the committee’s work to define and uphold ethical standards across the public sector. As Lord Evans reaches the end of his five-year term, he joined the Institute for Government to reflect on the work of the committee and the UK’s approach to standards in public life more broadly. He discussed how the standards landscape has changed, the challenges he anticipates, and how he would like to see public standards strengthened in future. After his speech, Lord Evans was in conversation with Dr Hannah White, Director of the Institute for Government. There was an opportunity for questions from the audience.

This event was part of the IfG's Conservative Party Conference 2023 fringe programme. Speakers: Baroness Neville-Rolfe, Minister of State (Cabinet Office) Brendan Clarke-Smith MP, former Minister at the Cabinet Office Anthony Kirby, Chief Executive Officer of Serco UK & Europe Sarah Vibert, Chief Executive Officer of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations This event was chaired by Nick Davies, Programme Director at the Institute for Government. This event was kindly supported by Serco.

This event was part of the IfG's Labour Party Conference 2023 fringe programme. Speakers: Dame Nia Griffith MP, Shadow Minister (Cabinet Office) Debbie Abrahams MP, MP for Oldham East and Saddleworth Aubrey Allegretti, Senior Political Correspondent for The Guardian Tim Durrant, Programme Director at the Institute for Government Duncan Hames, Director of Policy and Programmes at Transparency International UK Dr Susan Hawley, Executive Director of Spotlight on Corruption This event was chaired by Dr Hannah White, Director of the Institute for Government. This event was kindly supported by Transparency International UK, UK Anti-Corruption Coalition and Spotlight on Corruption.

This event was part of the IfG's Labour Party Conference 2023 fringe programme. Speakers: Matt Rodda MP, Shadow Minister for AI and Intellectual Property Dr Andrew Rogoyski, Institute for People-Centred Artificial Intelligence at the University of Surrey Hetan Shah, Chief Executive of the British Academy Anna Thomas, Co-Founder and Founding Director of the Institute for the Future of Work This event was chaired by Gavin Freeguard, Associate at the Institute for Government. This event was kindly supported by the Institute for People-Centred Artificial Intelligence at the University of Surrey.

This event was part of the IfG's Labour Party Conference 2023 fringe programme. Speakers: Mike Clancy, General Secretary of Prospect Ian Mulheirn, Economist and public policy expert Sonia Sodha, Chief Lead Writer at the Observer Alex Thomas, Programme Director at the Institute for Government This event was chaired by Dr Hannah White, Director of the Institute for Government. This event was kindly supported by Prospect.

This event was part of the IfG's Labour Party Conference 2023 fringe programme. Speakers: Dame Nia Griffith MP, Shadow Minister (Cabinet Office) Anthony Kirby, Chief Executive Officer of Serco UK & Europe Sarah Vibert, Chief Executive Officer of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations This event was chaired by Nick Davies, Programme Director at the Institute for Government. This event was kindly supported by Serco.

This event was part of the IfG's Labour Party Conference 2023 fringe programme. Speakers: Anneliese Dodds MP, Party Chair and Chair of the National Policy Review Dr Fiona Aldridge, Head of Insight - Economic Delivery, Skills and Communities at the West Midlands Combined Authority Councillor Bev Craig, Leader of Manchester City Council Akash Paun, Programme Director at the Institute for Government Andy Westwood, Professor of Government Practice and Vice Dean of Humanities at The University of Manchester This event was chaired by Thomas Pope, Deputy Chief Economist at the Institute for Government. This event was kindly supported by Policy@Manchester.

This event was part of the IfG's Labour Party Conference 2023 fringe programme. Speakers: Daniel Zeichner MP, Shadow Minister for Farming, Food and Fisheries Sophie Metcalfe, Researcher at the Institute for Government Ben Reynolds, Deputy Chief Executive of Sustain Richard Sloggett, Founder and Programme Director at Future Health Nilani Sritharan, Group Head of Healthy and Sustainable Diets at Sainsbury’s This event was chaired by Emma Norris, Deputy Director of the Institute for Government. This event was kindly supported by Obesity Health Alliance, the Food Foundation and Sustain.

This event was part of the IfG's Labour Party Conference 2023 fringe programme. Speakers: Andrew Gwynne MP, Shadow Minister for Social Care) Sam Freedman, Senior Fellow at the Institute for Government Rachel Sylvester, Political Columnist at The Times Dr Paul Williams, UK Division President at Maximus This event was chaired by Nick Davies, Programme Director of the Institute for Government. This event was kindly supported by Maximus.

This event was part of the IfG's Labour Party Conference 2023 fringe programme. Speakers: Chi Onwurah MP, Shadow Minister for Science, Research and Innovation Katherine Bennett, Chief Executive Officer at the High Value Manufacturing Catapult Chris Giles, Economics Commentator 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 Tetlow, Chief Economist at the Institute for Government. This event was kindly supported by Imperial College London.

This event was part of the IfG's Labour Party Conference 2023 fringe programme. Speakers: Paula Barker MP, Shadow Minister for Devolution and the English Regions Simon Christian, Director at Grant Thornton UK LLP Richard Parker, Labour & Co-op Candidate for West Midlands Mayor Akash Paun, Programme Director at the Institute for Government Jack Shaw, Affiliate Researcher, Bennett Institute for Public Policy, University of Cambridge Jessica Studdert, Deputy Chief Executive, New Local This event was chaired by Emma Norris, Deputy Director of the Institute for Government. This event was kindly supported by Grant Thornton UK LLP.

This event was part of the IfG's Labour Party Conference 2023 fringe programme. Speakers: Rt Hon Baroness Smith, Shadow Leader of the House of Lords Anas Sarwar MSP, Leader of the Scottish Labour Party Stephen Bush, Associate Editor at the Financial Times Dave Penman, General Secretary of the FDA Jess Sargeant, Associate Director at the Institute for Government This event was chaired by Dr Hannah White, Director of the Institute for Government. This event was kindly supported by the FDA.

This event was part of the IfG's Labour Party Conference 2023 fringe programme. Speakers: Mick Antoniw MS, Counsel General of Wales and Minister for the Constitution for the Welsh Government Cllr Julia Buckley, Leader of Shropshire Council and prospective parliamentary candidate for Shrewsbury Darren Hughes, Chief Executive of the Electoral Reform Society Alex Thomas, Programme Director at the Institute for Government This event was chaired by Jess Sargeant, Associate Director at the Institute for Government. This event was kindly supported by the Electoral Reform Society.