This report from UK think tank the Social Market Foundation examines the state of leadership and management in education. Education is strongly linked with economic success, yet education quality in the UK lags behind many comparable countries. This Social Market Foundation report examines the central role that better leadership and management have to play in...

This report from UK think tank the Institute for Government looks at what has changed in the public appointments process and what still needs to change. In August 2022 the Institute for Government published Reforming Public Appointments, which dissected the public appointments process and offered recommendations for how it could be improved. We looked at...

This report from UK think tank the Centre for Progressive Policy sets out how a future government could drive transformative change. CPP’s Funding fair growth report reveals the stark cost of maintaining public services at current levels over the next parliament and sets out how a future government could drive transformative change. Our analysis shows...

This report from UK think tank Green Alliance looks at how an integrated approach can galvanise better outcomes. How an integrated approach to both the climate crisis and public health can galvanise better outcomes on both fronts. Climate change is here and now, impacting nearly all aspects of human health, despite progress to reduce fossil...

This report from UK think tank the Institute for Government outlines the current state of nine public services and the problems they face. The annual Institute for Government/Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) public services stocktake reveals that the government’s spending plans from April 2025 onwards – which Labour have also committed to...

This report from UK think tank the Institute for Government looks at public services as the UK approaches a general election. The annual Institute for Government/Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) public services stocktake reveals that the government’s spending plans from April 2025 onwards – which Labour have also committed to – will...

This report from UK think tank Reform looks at prioritising efficiency in Whitehall's everyday work. Spending public money wisely must be at the heart of how Whitehall operates. Every pound that is wasted, or used ineffectively, is a pound that could have been used to improve people's lives. Yet despite spending more than ever on...

This report from UK think tank IPPR looks at how we can build a strategic, ambitious and collaborative response to improve our social security system. Our safety net is failing to protect people from being pulled into poverty. Universal credit is simply inadequate to meet day to day living costs. This means despite temporary cost...

This report by UK think tank IPPR looks at how rising tax levels can enable better living standards. The UK economy has much bigger problems than high levels of tax. Rising long-term sickness is impacting labour supply, while the education and health systems are struggling with recruitment and staff capacity. Public infrastructure is quite literally...

This report from UK think tank New Local looks at a Labour vision for community power. A Labour Vision for Community Power is an ambitious agenda for action, driven by the principles of participation, prevention and devolution. It sets out how in practice a mission-driven approach to government would redistribute power out of Westminster, across...

This report from UK think tank Localis looks at a modern agenda for public service integration. Perhaps the greatest of the myriad challenges facing local government is the continued delivery of local public services against the headwinds of rising inflation and inexorable demographic pressures. With the dozen missions outlined in the Levelling Up White Paper...

This report from UK think tank the Institute for Government looks at why hospital activity has not increased in line with funding and staffing. Politicians need to seriously engage with the real problems facing the NHS – or the decline in hospital performance levels will become extremely difficult to reverse. This report – written jointly...

This report from UK think tank Civitas is a response to Nazir Afzal’s ‘Independent Culture Review of London Fire Brigade’. Dr Richard Norrie (director of the research and statistics programme, Civitas) conducts a forensic analysis of the recent Independent Culture Review of London Fire Brigade. That review was led by the former prosecutor Nazir Afzal,...

This report from UK think tank the Institute for Government looks at the lessons from the Darlington Economic Campus for civil service relocation. The relocation of parts of the civil service to Darlington is proving beneficial for government – but ministers shouldn’t see civil service relocation as a primary tool for reducing regional economic inequality....

This report from UK think tank the Social Market Foundation looks at in-work poverty in London’s public sector. In-work poverty is not just a problem experienced by workers in the private sector – nearly 140,000 Londoners who live in a household relying on a public sector wage, are in poverty. This equates to about 1...

Digital government services must be made truly accessible to reduce inequalities By Josh Abel (Fabian Society) The pandemic has brought the digital divide to the forefront of public policy debate. During lockdown, far too many children were unable to learn from home because they could not access the internet and millions of households faced social isolation because they were...