This report from UK think tank the Institute for Government looks at the role of England’s mayors in the climate transition. This report calls on the UK government to put England’s mayors at the heart of its net zero strategy and give England’s locally elected leaders the powers and funding to become trailblazers in transitioning...

This report from UK think tank the Institute for Government is their annual, data-based assessment of the UK civil service over the past year.  This is the 10th edition of Whitehall Monitor – our annual, data-based assessment of the UK civil service, how it has changed and performed over the past year, and its priorities...

This report from UK think tank the Institute for Government looks at the tough choices and difficult trade-offs facing the government in 2023. As we begin 2023, the tough choices and difficult trade-offs involved in governing a country are more evident than ever. Governments around the world are dealing with geopolitical tensions, the health and...

This report from UK think tank the Institute for Government argues that ministers and civil servants need to urgently reset relations. Brexit, Covid and Boris Johnson have made existing tensions in relations between civil servants and ministers unsustainable. This report, the latest in the Institute for Government/Bennett Institute review of the UK constitution, argues that...

This report from UK think tank the Institute for Government looks at an international comparison for subnational government. England’s usually messy patchwork of governing arrangements makes it an international outlier in its subnational government structures. This report draws on comparable data across large, advanced economies and additional qualitative analysis of Germany and Japan (including interviews...

This report from UK think tank the Institute for Government looks at legislation around data sharing and unintended consequences.  The response to the coronavirus pandemic brought data to the heart of government decision making like never before – but what lessons does government need to learn about data sharing from the experience? This paper summarises...

This report from UK think tank the Institute for Government looks at how the Cabinet Office can give government departments guidance and support on D&I plans. In February 2022 the Cabinet Office published a new diversity and inclusion strategy for the civil service. Drawing on private roundtables and interviews with key figures from public sector...

This report from UK think tank the Institute for Government looks at how to strengthen the civil service through external recruitment. The civil service’s ability to deliver ministers’ priorities is being hurt by its failure to attract, retain and properly use the skills of external recruits. This report calls on ministers and civil servants to...

This report from UK think tank the Adam Smith Institute looks at 16 problems facing the country. The Adam Smith Institute’s latest discussion paper, written by Dr. Madsen Pirie, details the key problems facing Britain today.

This report from UK think tank the Institute for Government looks at predictions public services will be performing worse in 2025 than on the eve of the pandemic. Jeremy Hunt’s spending settlement is likely to leave most public services performing worse in 2025 than on the eve of the pandemic – when performance levels were...

This report from UK think tank the Institute for Government looks at how best to slim down and save money in the civil service. This paper sets out the six steps government can take which would cut the civil service and save money, while not damaging skills and capability. It welcomes Rishi Sunak’s decision to...

This report from UK think tank the Institute for Government looks at the lessons on austerity in public services from the 2010s. The estimated £40bn of departmental savings that Jeremy Hunt needs to find would be much more damaging to public services and harder to deliver than the coalition government’s 2010 austerity programme. Hunt should...

This report from UK think tank the Adam Smith Institute looks at a number of reforms to improve the efficiency and value for money of DEFRA. The Adam Smith Institute’s latest discussion paper, written by Tim Ambler, proposes a number of reforms to improve the efficiency and value for money of the Department for Environment,...

This report from UK think tank the Adam Smith Institute looks at a number of reforms to improve the efficiency and value for money of the DHSC. The Adam Smith Institute’s latest discussion paper, written by Tim Ambler, proposes a number of reforms to improve the efficiency and value for money of the Department of...

This report from UK think tank the Institute for Government looks at Parliament and the UK–EU relationship. Liz Truss should reset parliament’s lacklustre arrangements for post-Brexit scrutiny – and if she won’t then senior parliamentarians should pressurise government into making vital changes. This report finds that parliamentary scrutiny of Brexit has been relegated to a...