The Lionesses and Red Roses have really spoilt my children. Supporting England is meant to be an endless series of disappointments! They don’t know they’ve been born

The role of procurement in delivering mission-led government New report by @njdavies.bsky.social and @drbenpaxton.bsky.social on how public procurement could support delivery of mission-led government, and the key barriers to this. www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publication/...

NEW REPORT: @instituteforgovernment.org.uk finds that confused missions, pervasive risk aversion, poor data quality, insufficient commericial capability, and a failure to focus on outcomes means that govt is failing to make the most of £400bn+ a year it spends on procurement

This type of language is utterly unacceptable. Two MPs have actually been murdered in the last decade. Using violent rhetoric like this isn't big or clever, it's dangerous and idiotic

Procurement is massively underrated as an opportunity for improvement, and where a mission-led approach could make a difference. Our NEW REPORT explores why this change is hard, and how procurement should be used to shape markets + drive innovation🧵 www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publication/...

NEW REPORT: @instituteforgovernment.org.uk finds that confused missions, pervasive risk aversion, poor data quality, insufficient commericial capability, and a failure to focus on outcomes means that govt is failing to make the most of £400bn+ a year it spends on procurement

New @instituteforgovernment.org.uk report by me, @gemmatetlow.bsky.social and @jillongovt.bsky.social on how Reeves should approach tax this Autumn With tax rises inevitable, Reeves should reject path of least resistance and embrace tax reform 1/3 www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publication/...

Well worth a listen. Women’s prisons are genuinely appalling and getting worse. They receive very little press coverage despite being more violent than men’s prisons and having a self-harm rate equivalent to around 6 incidents per prisoner per year

3. No matter how well staffed, the power of No10 is political not technical. It is about knowing what a *well-informed* PM thinks and using that to force coordination and the confrontation of difficult choices. There is probably an important job to be done bringing NO10 itself up to speed ...

Let's face it, it's not often I get to say nice things about what's happening in criminal justice. But the Sentencing Bill, up before the Commons today, is an exception! It's not perfect, but there's lots to like and the gov should hold firm against pressure to water down proposals. 🧵

Sign up to watch this event tomorrow either in person or online We'll be getting into depth on how the govt intends to use financial flows to shift activity and behaviour in the NHS

This is moving in exactly the wrong direction! Education & meaningful activity in prison is crucial to reducing violence and improving outcomes

New NAO report finds the cost of a place in a children's care home has nearly doubled in 5 years. The biggest private providers make average annual profits of 22.6%, many backed by private equity. And many children aren't getting what they need, placed far from home, in unlawful settings

Honestly, it is absurd to publish a league table with confidence intervals so wide that a single trust could be in either the top 10 or bottom 10

Those confidence intervals in full!

Georgia Gould to DfE and Jim McMahon out of govt. Worrying news for the place-based public services agenda

[Organisers of Labour conference events watching Starmer conduct another major reshuffle in early September]:

And we're off! The @instituteforgovernment.org.uk reshuffle live blog is now live, stay with us for updates and analysis from IfG colleagues on Starmer's first government reshuffle. www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/live-blog/st...

With Rayner stepping down we have hit 10 minister's who have oficially resigned from this government. Make sure you are following @paddy-mcalary.bsky.social @timdurrant.bsky.social @rebeccamckee.bsky.social meganbryer.bsky.social for what Starmer will do next with his minsiterial team.

Good to be quoted in this piece. Reform's "DOGE" has been a complete bust, high on rhetoric and low on meaningful change Reform's councillors have worked out that their councils' finances are not going to be fixed by cancelling a few "DEI" programmes www.ft.com/content/fd85...

Excellent (as ever) sleuthing by Penelope on one of the massive holes in available data in the criminal justice system — in this case yet another on the ‘single justice procedure’, the process for prosecuting low-level offences based on paper submissions, with no court hearing.

As part of a team producing a huge analysis of public services that is due to be published before the budget, I salute the chancellor's decision not to hold it until 26 Novemeber!

Moving the mission delivery unit from the Cabinet Office to No10 is I think a good thing. Looks like gov is going from potentially having lots of big figures doing delivery at the centre, to making clear Darren Jones in charge of it (with Nin Pandit reporting to him). That is useful clarity!

I largely agree with this analogy. The main difference is that the dysfunction in No.10 is a serious problem, whereas the Man U clown show is objectively hilarious and provides a major boost to societal wellbeing

What does the Darren Jones move to be first ever “chief secretary to the PM” mean for the govt? Here’s our take… www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/keir...

The classic government solution of the last 20 years: give it to big Lou til the end of the parliament

The govt's commitment to adult social care reform procrastination is truly impressive. First it commissioned Louise Casey to publish a review in 2028, then it decided she should first review grooming gangs, and now it is considering appointing her to a full time role in No.10

My overview of some of the legal implications of Reform UK’s immigration proposals www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/refo...

Dubious decision upon dubious decision - as the government refuses to disclose the guidance that prevents public officials talking to the public

The whole report is great and I particularly LOVE the beeswarm charts 😍😍😍

NEW REPORT: how does where you live and your background affect how you do at school? - Inequalities have widened around the country and between groups of children since the pandemic - Progress depends on sharing what works to support disadvantaged pupils & cutting high absence 🧵👇

I’m genuinely glad that something like this is still a resigning matter. It’s a relatively low stakes offence, but political hygiene matters. If you start turning a blind eye, far worse behaviour becomes inevitable

I also think we're at risk of losing sight that we're talking about 200 people here. 0.04% of the civil service. An internship is as good a shout as any to improve diversity (let's see if it works), but gov needs to sort other stuff including pay and wider recruitment too. Some thoughts from IfG 👇

In a helpful coincidence, the government has today confirmed that David Dinsmore will lead the Government Communication Service, the organisation responsible for reviewing govt's use of X. This should be added to his to-do list immediately

if Mayors ask to be allowed to levy tourist taxes, let them - @instituteforgovernment.org.uk blog by me and @tompope.bsky.social www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/rach... - time to end HMT control freakery

Given everything that has happened on Twitter/X in the last 2 years it is astonishing that the govt hasn’t even reviewed its use of the platform

This is England!

My former IfG colleagues have written this excellent blog on lessons from the Turner Commission for the new Pensions Commission. Let’s apply their top tips to another current “review”: the Mayfield Review into getting employers more active on health and work. How does that measure up? 🧵

The original pensions commission is the single most effective independent inquiry of the last few decades. @jillongovt.bsky.social @gemmatetlow.bsky.social and I have written on what the new pensions commission announced this week can learn from the original

So now we know what the government's Ethics and Integrity Commission will do! I've had a look for @instituteforgovernment.org.uk - lots of positives here, but it's only one step along the way... www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/labo...

Great new report from @transformjustice.bsky.social that digs into the problems with the Single Justice Procedure. It’s a woefully underscrutinised topic given SJP is now responsible for the majority criminal prosecutions www.transformjustice.org.uk/publication/...

In an effort that will no doubt torch my follower base, I have laid out some basic numbers around our fiscal situation. Obvious, but still a little sobering for me. freethinkecon.wordpress.com/2025/07/15/t...

New blog from @nehaldavison.bsky.social and I reflecting on the Best Start in Life strategy. Interesting to see the govt signal it wants a bigger role in shaping the childcare market - there's a strong case for it, but it will be hard to do well and local areas will need the right support.

This is an excellent analysis of the Leveson Review (and not only because it mirrors my own view as I wade through the report). The biggest problem in the courts, as any criminal barrister will tell you, is that things just don’t *work*. So much time is lost to systemic inefficiency.

This is particularly important given some of the mission milestones are crap (growth = incredibly vague; safer streets = poorly defined input) and excessive focus on others will make it harder to deliver wider objectives (NHS = electives vs shifting care to communities + making more preventative)

Story tonight about our joint open letter to The Times We’re calling for the guidance that is preventing civil servants from participating in public and stakeholder events to be withdrawn www.thetimes.com/article/2e4f...

"a lack of policy thinking is the main reason Labour finds itself in such a mess, dropping ever lower in the polls....Often those who had done some thinking about how to run a Labour government were not offered jobs in it" www.economist.com/britain/2025... From The Economist

My take on the Leveson review! Restricting jury trials would cut the case backlog & if you’re going to do it, this is a good model. BUT it isn't necessary. Leveson's argument is based on rising demand - when the real problem is poor productivity. 🧵 www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/leve...

As @jim.londoncentric.media suggests, a good question at Lobby this morning would be whether the Government believes that departments' continued use of X meets the Public Sector Equality Duty and Cabinet Office guidelines on appropriate methods of communication.