Institute for Government

The Institute for Government was delighted to welcome Wes Streeting MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. With the Covid-19 pandemic continuing to place the NHS under huge strain, Wes Streeting discussed with Bronwen Maddox, Director of the Institute for Government, how Labour would tackle waiting list backlogs, address workforce problems and reform the social care system. He also examined the lessons the NHS should learn from the pandemic. Wes Streeting has been the Member of Parliament for Ilford North since May 2015. He has served as Shadow Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, Shadow Minister for Schools, Shadow Secretary of State for Child Poverty and, since November 2021, in his current position as Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care.

COP26 was one of the biggest diplomatic events any UK government has hosted in recent decades, with a huge amount of diplomacy, logistical preparations and careful planning required both ahead of and during the conference. So what lessons should the government take from the experience of hosting a major international summit, and can they play a part in its wider global ambitions? It is now half a year since world leaders met in Glasgow, but there are still six months remaining in the UK’s COP presidency. What should the government be looking to achieve? How has the war in Ukraine and the energy crisis changed the energy landscape? And what is the outlook for international cooperation on net zero? On our panel to discuss these issues will be: Camilla Born, Deputy Director, International Climate Finance in the COP26 Unit, Cabinet Office Greg Bourne, Councillor at the Climate Council of Australia Sepi Golzari-Munro, Deputy Director of the Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit Professor Mary Ryan, Interim Vice-Provost (Research and Enterprise) at Imperial College London The event was chaired by Jill Rutter, Senior Fellow at the Institute for Government.

WhatsApp is Westminster’s favourite way of communicating. Widely used across government , it is quick, convenient and easy to use. But WhatsApp also brings problems – it can lead to bad decision making, poor record-keeping and a lack of transparency. So how should ministers, special adviser and officials use WhatsApp to ensure that the benefits outweigh the risks? How can the government prevent crucial messages going undocumented? And when is WhatsApp not appropriate for use in government? Following the IfG’s report on WhatsApp in Government, an expert panel discuss how to get the best out of WhatsApp in Westminster: Lord Bethell, former parliamentary under-secretary of state at the Department for Health and Social Care Hugo Rifkind, columnist and leader writer for The Times Dr Catherine Haddon, senior fellow, Institute for Government The event was chaired by Tim Durrant, associate director at the Institute for Government. #IfGWhatsApp

During the Covid-19 pandemic, unprecedented numbers of people engaged with evidence behind government policy. Many had to interpret and implement government decisions while making trade-offs with other priorities, like protecting children, cancer care provision or running businesses. Based on testimony from expert witnesses and the experiences of people from a broad range of sectors across the UK, Sense About Science’s What Counts? inquiry is a major new study looking at what society needed to know and how well the UK government was able to respond. The report’s findings, including a NatCen survey of how the public engaged with government evidence, was presented Tracey Brown, Director of Sense about Science, followed by remarks from Greg Clark MP, Chair of the Science and Technology Committee, and a panel discussion with Paul Wilson, Policy Director at the Federation of Small Businesses. The event was chaired by Tom Sasse, Associate Director at the Institute for Government. The report What Counts? A scoping inquiry into how well the government’s evidence for Covid-19 decisions served society is available for download on the Sense About Science website. #WhatCounts

As part of a special series of events on devolution, levelling up and local leadership, featuring local leaders from across England, the Institute for Government was delighted to be joined by Jamie Driscoll, Mayor of the North of Tyne region. Powers over infrastructure, skills, and housing have already been transferred to the North of Tyne combined authority, and the government's levelling up agenda may see more follow – as well as expand the devolution deal to cover Sunderland, Gateshead and South Tyneside too. At the event, the mayor discussed his role, how to make levelling up a reality in the North Tyne area and how he would like to see devolution extended. Jamie Driscoll was in conversation with Akash Paun, Senior Fellow at the Institute for Government. This event was broadcast live from Newcastle in front of an invited audience. Jamie Driscoll was a Labour and Cooperative councillor in Monument ward, Newcastle city centre, before being elected Mayor of the North of Tyne in May 2019. He studied engineering at Northumbria University and worked in the electronics and IT sector before setting up his own software development business. #IfGdevo We would like to thank the Centre for Researching Cities and the Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies (CURDS) at Newcastle University for kindly supporting this event.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) was created by the merger of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and the Department for International Development (DfID) in 2020. Since then, the department has implemented a substantial cut to the UK’s aid budget, dealt with the foreign policy implications of Brexit, handled the UK’s presidency of the G7 and the COP climate conference, and responded to the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. But has the merger of the FCO and DfID been a success? Are the prime minister’s objectives being achieved by the FCDO? Does the department have good relations with the rest of government? And what lessons does the FCDO need to learn to ensure it can achieve the UK’s global priorities? To discuss all this we were joined by: Sir Alan Duncan, former Minister of State at DfID and FCO Sarah Champion MP, Chair of the International Development Committee Lord McDonald, former Permanent Under Secretary at the FCO Stephanie Draper, Chief Executive Officer at Bond This event was chaired by Tim Durrant, Associate Director at the Institute for Government. #IfGFCDO

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. At this month's event, the 29th in our series, the speakers presented their work in an exciting, quickfire format. Each speaker had eight minutes, followed by eight minutes of questions from the audience. Our partner, Ploughshare, the Ministry of Defence’s Technology Transfer Office, helped bring together speakers from cyber and defence around the theme, 'Mission Possible – Getting the right data, to the right people with the right permissions to inform and act.' This month's speakers were: Mark Darbin, Principal Scientist at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory on a Ministry of Defence approach to sharing the right data at the right time through Information Based Security Architecture (IBSA) Andrew Garner, Lead Security Architect at UK MOD Strategic Command Cap C4ISTAR on communicating and sharing information securely with partners within Mission Partner Environments (MPEs) using data-centric security aligned to Zero Trust Architecture principles Wendy Griffiths, Product Manager at Tarian Technology on how to eradicate the cyber threat using data centric security. Andrew Read, Systems Engineer at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, a case study on sharing intelligence data within NATO The event was chaired by Gavin Freeguard, Associate at the Institute for Government. #IfGDataBites This event is kindly supported by Ploughshare.

Boris Johnson's 2019 pledge to ‘level up’ the UK has become his government’s flagship agenda. But this is not the first government aiming to reduce regional economic disparities, and the Johnson administration will need to learn from the experience of past administrations if it is to succeed where others failed. With previous attempts to level up let down by frequent churn in institutions and programmes, as well as a failure to properly evaluate which policies were working, this event will explore what lessons the government can learn from the past. Does the government know which policies will work to level up? How can it overcome barriers to the effective evaluation of any new policies? What other lessons can it learn from previous administrations if it is to make levelling up a success? The Institute for Government was delighted to bring together the following panel to discuss these issues: Ruth Kelly, Chief Analyst at the National Audit Office Danielle Mason, Head of Policy at the What Works Centre for Local Economic Growth Lucie Moore, Evaluation Lead in the Evaluation Task Force, Cabinet Office Thomas Pope, Deputy Chief Economist at the Institute for Government. The event was chaired by Dr Gemma Tetlow, Chief Economist at the Institute for Government. #IfGlevellingup

At the 2019 general election, the Conservative Party won votes in many places that had not traditionally voted Tory - with the promise to 'level up' the UK seen as a key factor. A recent white paper finally set out the government’s plan to turn the levelling up slogan into reality, including 12 missions to be achieved by 2030. But with the general election due in no more than two years, will the government be able to demonstrate sufficient levelling up progress before voters return to the polls? Has it set its expectations too high? What do voters want to see from levelling up? This event, held in the week after the local elections, asked what the public expects of levelling up and whether and how the government can deliver against public expectations before April 2024. On our panel to discuss these issues: Viki Cooke, Founding Partner at Britain Thinks Andrew Lewer MP, Member of the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Select Committee and Vice-President of the Local Government Association Alex Norris MP, Shadow Minister for Levelling Up, Housing, Communities and Local Government Thomas Pope, Deputy Chief Economist at the Institute for Government. The event was chaired by Dr Gemma Tetlow, Chief Economist at the Institute for Government. #IfGlevellingup We would like to thank Lloyds Banking Group for supporting this event.

From attending parties during the Covid-19 lockdown to taking payment for lobbying, some MPs seem to think the rules they set for others should not apply to them. Their procedures are complex, they are far from representative of the UK population, and many appear detached from the lives led by their constituents. So what can be done to reform the way the House of Commons works? How can MPs make their institution worthy of public trust? And what can parliamentarians do to restore their flagging reputation? To mark the publication of her new book: Held in Contempt: What's wrong with the House of Commons? the IfG's deputy director, Dr Hannah White was joined by an expert panel, including The Rt Hon Karen Bradley MP, Member of Parliament for Staffordshire Moorlands, and Chris Cook from the Financial Times. The event was chaired by IfG senior fellow, Dr Catherine Haddon. #IfGCommons