As the World Health Organization’s Special Envoy on Covid-19, Dr David Nabarro has played a leading role in the international response to the pandemic.In conversation with Bronwen Maddox, Director of the Institute for Government, he will discuss the international community’s handling of the crisis – from the initial outbreak in early 2020, to public health measures used to curb transmission, to current vaccination programmes.As the international vaccine rollout continues, but with high numbers of Covid-19 cases across the world, Professor Nabarro will also set out how countries can best manage this phase of the pandemic – and what needs to be done to ensure we are better prepared in the future.David Nabarro is co-director and chair of Global Health at Imperial College London’s Institute of Global Health Innovation and strategic director of 4SD. In March 2020 he was appointed Special Envoy of WHO Director-General on Covid-19. He has over 40 years of experience in international public health as a community-based practitioner, educator, public servant, director and diplomat. He was awarded Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for work on international public health in 1992.#IfGNabarro Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With a week to go until Rishi Sunak sets out his multi-year spending review, the chancellor faces difficult decisions about how to fund public services.The pandemic has hit services hard. Children have lost hours of learning, waiting times for court cases are longer, and a backlog for operations has built up.So what spending choices must Sunak make? What is the pandemic’s impact on spending, staff, and service performance? And where might pressures intensify in the next three years?As the Institute for Government and the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy launch the sixth edition of Performance Tracker – a data-driven analysis of the performance of key public services in England, including prisons, hospitals, schools, police and adult social care – its lead author Graham Atkins, Associate Director at the Institute for Government, presented the key findings.To discuss, our panel included: Justine Greening, former Secretary of State for Education and former Economic Secretary to the Treasury Anoosh Chakelian, Britain Editor at the New Statesman Mike Driver CB, President of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) The event was chaired by Dr Gemma Tetlow, Chief Economist at the Institute for Government, with an introduction by Jeffrey Matsu, Chief Economist at CIPFA.#PerformanceTrackerWe would like to thank the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) for supporting this event. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With just over a week to go until COP26, the government has published three big climate reports. So what do we now know about the government’s strategy for hitting its net zero target? Does the plan stack up? Has the Treasury revealed how to pay for it? And were these documents worth the wait? In a bonus IfG podcast, Tom Sasse is joined by Jill Rutter, Will McDowall and guest James Murray of Business Green to make sense of 2000 pages of net zero plans and pathways, targets and taxes. Audio Production by Candice McKenzie Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It’s been a rocky year for Northern Ireland politics. Against a backdrop of worsening relationships, the Executive has had to cope with the pandemic, the protocol and the legacy of three years without Ministers. The future of the Northern Ireland protocol hangs in the balance. The EU response to the UK’s proposals for major changes to the Withdrawal Agreement will be the start of an intense period of negotiations. The stakes are high with the UK governments threat to take unilateral measures on the protocol looms large, alongside the DUP’s threat to bring down the Northern Ireland Assembly. Deal or no deal, the Northern Ireland Assembly is heading for an election in May 2022, if not before. This podcast will explore the view from Northern Ireland – can the UK and EU reach agreement before the end of the year? Will the Assembly survive until May? What are each parties’ prospects? What other challenges will the Executive be facing in the next six months? To answer these questions the Institute for Government brought together an expert panel for a special IfG Live podcast.  Dr Clare Rice, researcher and writer on NI politics Prof John Tonge, British and Irish politics professor at the University of Liverpool Aoife Moore, Political Correspondent for the Irish Examiner Alex Kane, Columnist and commentator  Presented by Jess Sargeant, Senior Researcher at the Institute for Government Audio Production by Candice McKenzieSee acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hitting the UK’s net zero target depends on the transformation of the UK’s cities. Many had already declared climate emergencies and set ambitious emissions targets before the pandemic, while big changes in the last 18 months – less commuting, more walking and cycling – have had big implications for urban areas.But to help people permanently shift to low-carbon lifestyles requires local leaders to develop long-term approaches to infrastructure, taxes and regulations.What needs to be done to ensure long-term transformation? Which pandemic-enforced changes should remain in place? How can cities and central government work together to make progress towards net zero?On our panel to discuss these questions: Baroness Blake of Leeds, Shadow Spokesperson for Housing, Communities and Local Government and former Leader of Leeds City Council Professor Hayley Fowler, Professor of Climate Change Impacts in the School of Engineering at Newcastle University Christopher Hammond, Network Membership Director, UK100 Steve Turner, Director, Devolved and Local Government at Connected Places Catapult The event was chaired by Tom Sasse, Associate Director at the Institute for Government, with opening remarks by Giles Clifford, Partner at Gowling WLG.#IfGnetzeroWe would like to thank Gowling WLG for supporting this event.See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Departmental boards were introduced to bring private sector oversight into central government departments. But how are people appointed as departmental non-executive directors? What experience do they bring? And what advice do they give to ministers?A recent Institute for Government report exposed how the system lacks transparency and is inconsistently applied. Ministers can appoint non-executive directors without due process, and the influence of a department’s board depends on whether a minister chooses to engage with it or not.So what can be done to make more use of board members’ expertise? What changes could help boards to improve departmental performance? What can be done to improve the transparency of board appointments?To discuss these questions, the Institute for Government was delighted to bring together an expert panel: Sue Langley, lead non-executive director for the Home Office and former interim government lead non-executive Sir David Lidington, former Secretary of State for Justice, Leader of the House of Commons and Minister for the Cabinet Office Dame Una O’Brien, former Permanent Secretary at the Department of Health Miranda Curtis, Director at Liberty Global and former lead non-executive director for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office The event was chaired by Dr Matthew Gill, Senior Fellow at the Institute for Government.#IfGBoardsSee acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What is Great British Railways? How will it end rail industry fragmentation? And how can it deliver a rail network that works for customers, taxpayers, politicians, and the wider public?The new organisation is at the heart of the William-Shapps Plan for Rail, which reported in May. Keith Williams, Chair of the Review, describes the British railway network as a “complex Rubik’s cube” and says Great British Railways should be a central ‘guiding mind’ in a reformed rail system.This event explored how to make a reformed rail network work for Great Britain’s long-term post-pandemic future, drawing on lessons from previous attempts at reshaping the rail industry and experiences of setting up arms-length bodies elsewhere.Our panel: Keith Williams, independent Chair of the Williams Review The Rt Hon. the Lord Darling of Roulanish, former Secretary of State for Transport and former Chancellor of the Exchequer Maria Machancoses, CEO of Midlands Connect Andy Bagnall, Director General of the Rail Delivery Group The event was chaired by Dr Matthew Gill, Senior Fellow at the Institute for Government.#IfGRailWe are grateful to The Rail Delivery Group for their support with this event.See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The pandemic has hit public services hard, creating backlogs - from children missing out on school lessons, to cancelled hospital operations and unheard court cases – and leaving local authorities facing budget shortfalls.But as the government focuses on post-pandemic economic recovery, its priority is to ‘level up’ parts of the country which have fallen behind in terms of economic growth, opportunity, and wellbeing. With limited resources, how can public services both address backlogs and ‘level up’? Has the pandemic made levelling up harder for public services? How, if at all, can public services contribute to levelling up? What should the government do to help them both catch-up and level-up?To discuss these questions and more, the IfG was delighted to host an expert panel including: Baroness Armstrong, Chair of the House of Lords Public Services Committee Saffron Cordery, Deputy Chief Executive of NHS Providers Georgina Cox, Partner at PA Consulting Rachel Wolf, Founding Partner at Public First and former Education and Innovation Adviser to David Cameron. The event was chaired by Graham Atkins, Associate Director at the Institute for Government.#IfGpublicservicesWe would like to thank PA Consulting for kindly supporting this event.See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Decarbonising homes will be among the most difficult elements of reaching net zero. Homes account for 15% of the UK’s total emissions, yet there has been little progress towards reducing these over the past decade. Confidence has been damaged by repeated U-turns and policy failures, including the Green Deal and the Green Homes Grant.Achieving net zero by 2050 will require a huge national programme to deliver the infrastructure needed to reduce residential emissions – retrofitting homes, installing heat pumps and developing local heat networks. The government, businesses and consumers all have key roles to play. But how should the government approach policy making in this area? Will the long overdue Heat and Buildings Strategy be worth the wait and offer a clear plan? How can previous policy failures be learnt from? And how can we ensure the UK’s infrastructure is ready to support zero-emission homes?On our panel to discuss these issues were: Lord Callanan, Minister for Business, Energy & Corporate Responsibility at BEIS Chris Burchell, Managing Director, Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) Distribution Gillian Cooper, Head of Energy Policy at Citizens Advice Guy Newey, Director of Strategy and Performance at the Energy Systems Catapult This event was chaired by Marcus Shepheard, Senior Researcher at the Institute for Government.#IfGnetzeroWe would like to thank Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) Distribution for supporting this event.See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From closed schools to postponed exams, isolating teachers to bursting classroom bubbles, the last 18 months of education has been massively disrupted by the Covid-19 crisis. What can be done to help those students that have fallen behind? How can the gaps in attainment be bridged? And what lessons has lockdown taught us about education?To discuss the challenges facing the education system in the next phase of the pandemic and Ofsted's role in the new academic year and beyond, Amanda Spielman, the Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills, was in conversation with Bronwen Maddox, Director of the Institute for Government.Amanda Spielman has been Ofsted Chief Inspector since January 2017. Between 2011 and 2016, she was chair of Ofqual, the qualifications regulator. From 2005 she was a founding member of the leadership team at the academy chain Ark Schools. Previously she worked at KPMG, Kleinwort Benson, Mercer Management Consulting and Nomura International.#IfGOfsted See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices