Books I read in 2025. A Suitable Boy is probably the best single book I’ve ever read (it’s certainly the longest). Honourable mentions for Perfume, Who They Was, Under the Frog, Killing Thatcher and the trilogy of Station Eleven, The Glass Hotel and Sea of Tranquility

The new powers to debar or exclude suppliers that break the rules or perform poorly were supposed to help fix accountability in public procurement. But I'm not aware of these new powers being used much at all so far, and the attempt highlighted here by @jessicaelgot.bsky.social has faced problems

Any thoughts or feedback on our Public Services Performance Tracker most gratefully received! Even if you’ve only skimmed the summary (or read our threads on here!) we’d love to know what you thought

Have you ever read the Public Services Performance Tracker published by @instituteforgovernment.org.uk? If so, we’d love to hear from you. We’re surveying readers to find out what is most useful and what we should prioritise next year. It will only take around 5 mins to complete

WEBINAR | How can the government make a success of the abolition of NHS England? Join our webinar to explore the risks and opportunities associated with abolishing NHS England. @markgdayan.bsky.social @sjanereed.bsky.social www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/event/govern...

"Every time I pull a lever" says the Prime Minister. This dead metaphor is killing his ability to get things done. There aren't any levers. There's only leadership. howtorunacountry.substack.com/p/there-aren...

NEW: judge-alone trials would save just 2% of time in the Crown Court. In total, we estimate reforms to jury trials would save <10% of court time. Great write-up from @reporterrwright.ft.com here www.ft.com/content/8a9f...

so great that Labour's adult care policy amounts to a Louise Casey report and an unspecified pay rise in about 2028 www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

NEW IfG verdict on the child poverty strategy from me and @amberdellar.bsky.social A critical package for the govt, but it needs: - stronger powers/accountability in DWP to lead it - much more robust support for LAs - earlier monitoring/evaluation www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/chil...

Given the govt's comittment to a) shift care from treatment to prevention and b) shift spending away from hospitals, its hard to justify the decision to keep spending on public health flat for the next three years when the NHS will see real terms spending growth

WEBINAR | How can the government make a success of the abolition of NHS England? This webinar will explore the risks and opportunities associated with abolishing NHS England. @markgdayan.bsky.social @sjanereed.bsky.social @nuffieldtrust.org.uk www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/event/govern...

The @instituteforgovernment.org.uk’s Week in Public Services blog is back! This week I looked at the Budget’s place-based budget pilots, jury trial restrictions, and Ofsted’s concerns on children’s social care. Some thoughts below. medium.com/week-in-publ...

Last week the Chancellor announced a central government takeover of special educational needs deficits. I write about the potential impacts of this move on SEND reform, including on governance of the system, local innovation and trust

When I was a young parliamentary researcher, a hereditary peer called the office to ask if the MP I worked for would support his red squirrel campaign. He said “I was going to call it the grey squirrel annihilation league but thought that might get marginally less support”

Today's ITT Census data is positive, showing a sizeable increase in trainee numbers vs last year, alongside lower targets due to other supply improvements like retention. But there's still more to do as secondary recruitment is still below target at 88 per cent

Just caught up with this and it's fantastic. Essential reading (particularly for government strategists and the media!)

The 'clogging up' of A+Es is not due to the 2% of people coming to ED with this quite arbitrary list of conditions. The main reason they're clogged is poor flow through hospitals! www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

I was a little sceptical about the OVfM’s unusual setup but it has worked very well. The key question, as Ben argues, is whether politicians and officials can now put its proposals into practice and take up the mantle of driving further system reform

This is such a good piece of work by @nuffieldtrust.org.uk & @instituteforgovernment.org.uk. The structure is not the fundamental problem, it's the multiplicity of dysfunctional behaviours which surround it. Until those are fixed, every structure is likely to fail.

I'm really delighted to announce that- in a restructure of the @instituteforgovernment.org.uk’s senior team - I've appointed @gemmatetlow.bsky.social to the new role of Executive Director of Research & Innovation & @alexgathomas.bsky.social to the new role of Executive Director of Impact & Influence

NEW REPORT: abolishing NHS England could help simplify accountability, improve prioritisation and create savings. But the change could also lead to increases in policy incoherence and blame culture, as well as the loss of skills, capacity and focus on areas outside the day-to-day NHS.

My latest on the gov's proposal to all-but abolish jury trials: a radical move that would leave us out-of-step with most democracies and increase the risk of miscarriages of justice. 🧵 www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/david-lammy-...

Agree with every word of this We've gone from 9% of social care staff coming from outside the UK and EEA in 2021/22 to almost 25% in 2024/25 The govt has no near-term replacement It means either: 1) staffing shortages or 2) councils spending far more to attract staff, with no extra funding

Pleased to see the govt commitment to using procurement to drive innovation. Procurement accounts for roughly 1 in 3 pounds spent by govt but it's utterly unstrategic about how it uses this @drbenpaxton.bsky.social and I previously identified the barriers that the task-and-finish needs to remove

Key chart for public services Govt is back to pencilling in undeliverable plans to hit its fiscal rules After taking out likely funding for protected areas, other departments will have to absorb 3.3% annual real terms cuts. That includes prisons, courts, and local govt, among others

Place-based budget pilots and changes to spending controls in the budget both reflect a growing recognition by this govt that trying to deliver efficiencies by tightly controlling spending and reducing frontline autonomy tends to have the exact opposite effect. That's a really positive shift

This is great news. Place-based budgeting could help to substantially reduce duplicative spending by different public bodies, allowing a greater focus on prevention and delivering much better outcomes These (and other) pilots are really positive. Govt must use SR27 to make this way of working BAU

Really pleased to see a new commitment to place-based budgets today. Further progress towards the implementation of 'Total Place' principles as urged with @jesstud.bsky.social a couple of years ago. www.newlocal.org.uk/publications....

Proposed changes to spending controls are incredibly positive. As @instituteforgovernment.org.uk has previously noted, the cumulative complexity of controls muddies accountability, makes govt a worse customer, and wastes time and money. We asked govt to review and that's exactly what they've done

They've also got a big backlog of new homes to add. bsky.app/profile/resi...

I’m excited ministers get to find out what a hot mess the Valuation Office is. It’s currently taking more than a year (based on personal experience!) to undertake assessments that are meant to take less than 4 months

The Public Services Performance Tracker is regularly described as ‘sobering’ but this is definitely the first time we’ve had ‘almost lyrical’ www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

I would say this, but the IfG's budget live blog is already great, even before we get to the main event - where else do you get this kind of content?

Looks like Lammy is going significantly further than the Leveson criminal courts review proposed on jury trials: abolished for anyone likely to face a sentence <5 years (Leveson suggested 3). You can make arguments for and against juries — but the claim it‘s *necessary* doesn’t stand up:

Thanks Nick. Temporarily unpaywalled. www.healthpolicyinsight.com/cowpers-cut-...

It feels like budget has been going for weeks but a good live-blog starts the day before. Lots from @instituteforgovernment.org.uk before the big day ▪️What has govt already announced? ▪️Will they change fiscal strategy? ▪️What to look out for on tax? www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/live-blog/au...

Another great edition of @hpiandycowper.bsky.social's newsletter. This week it features the Covid inquiry, @instituteforgovernment.org.uk analysis of the NHS, and the brutal PAC report on reducing elective waiting times www.healthpolicyinsight.com/cowpers-cut-...

oh, I appear to have started a Substack by accident gileswilkes.substack.com/p/the-fiscal...

One of my favourite charts from this year's Performance Tracker Each dot shows a trust's bed occupancy in a given month What's notable is how little variation there is across the country and across time Go into any hospital in any month and you will find almost every bed is occupied

Great column by @sonia-sodha.bsky.social on Labour's efforts to improve public services. They inherited a mess, but should have done far more in opposition to prepare for government www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...

Just finished Don’t Burn Anyone at the Stake Today by @naomialderman.bsky.social and can’t recommend it enough. Describing the current moment as an information crisis explains so much about why so many people are losing their minds online. But it also provides ideas for how we get through this

Hot on the heels of yesterday's Covid inquiry report on decision making, @shaina-sangha.bsky.social and I have a new report out today looking at how combined epidemiological-economic modelling could help government better prepare for future pandemics www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publication/...

A chart that surprised me: NHS staff absences for mental health reasons are at record highs, above pandemic levels Absences for that reason have grown far faster than the combination of other reasons since 2016 Staff were absent for 1.4% of all working days for mental health reasons in YE May 2025

The government has established a new public services cabinet committee. It will be chaired by Darren Jones, with Streeting, Phillipson and Reed also permanent members. Yesterday we called for govt to urgently establish a cross-govt approach to public services, so this is potentially promising

NEW: Report from me and @nehaldavison.bsky.social on how and why boys from low-income families get left behind in their early years 🧵⬇️ www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publication/...

What progress has Labour made on public services? @cassiarowland.bsky.social from @instituteforgovernment.org.uk sums up overall government performance in the last of her series of performance tracker guest posts. www.russellwebster.com/what-progres...

NEW REPORT: performance in hospitals in England declined to record lows under the last govt Labour won the election promising to turn the NHS around How are they doing? 🧵👇 www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publication/...

NEW: Labour inherited public services in crisis. Performance had fallen, investment had been cut + spending plans were undeliverable. It's made some progress, providing stability and positive long-term plans. But it has been undermined by poor prep in opposition and lack of co-ordination in govt 🧵

It's snowing in Westminster on the same day that we've published the final chapters of Public Service Performance Tracker 2025. Truly, this is like Christmas day for the IFG public services team