Special Delivery! @emma-conway.bsky.social and I have been thinking about how Keir Starmer and co (especially Darren Jones) can make a success of 'phase two' - which is all about delivering on the government's priorities. Read more here: www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/star...

The essential analysis of latest changes in civil service staff numbers from @howesdaniel.bsky.social 👇 No surprise that the civil service is *still* growing, though at a far lower rate than in recent years

Many organisations run graduate schemes focused on developing future leaders. That's what the fast stream has always been, at its core. It now needs to overcome the instinct to be all things to all people and rediscover that sense of purpose. Me for @civilserviceworld.bsky.social:

Brilliant new @instituteforgovernment.org.uk research from @teodorgrama.bsky.social on the civil service fast stream - setting out how it's lost its sense of purpose, and what should be done about it 👇

Great to see our latest @instituteforgovernment.org.uk report on the fast stream covered in The Guardian. The civil service wants the fast stream to do too much, all at once. A smaller programme that is laser-focused on developing future leaders would deliver more for the civil service.

I'm not blaming anyone in particular. 100% of the pressures in politics are short term, 95% of the policy dilemmas are long term, and so government is basically a dialogue of the deaf. A wonk in one corner saying "we need difficult tax reform" and a PR guy responding "give me something for the Mail"

The government is restricting civil service internships to applicants from lower socio-economic backgrounds to get more working-class young people into the civil service. Using internships will not solve everything, but the experiment is worthwhile www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/soci...

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 👇

Joining @hannahkeenan.bsky.social and @jackworlidge.bsky.social, looking at grades in this year's CS Stats, the growth of Grades 6/7 continues, rising 5% from 2024. All grades have continued to grow, except AO/AA. But growth is slowing - except for SCS, which grew more in 2024-25 than 2023-24. (1/2)

Civil service pay is another interesting story in this year's stats, with real terms pay ticking up again as expected...

Departmental Efficiency Plans published alongside the spending review project major efficiency gains in the next few years. For some depts, these plans are heavily weighted towards the end of the SR period. And many depts seem to be betting big on digital to deliver the efficiencies they seek.

The SR confirms an overall 16% real terms cut to dept administration budgets by 2029/30 (which will drive down staff numbers).... ...but for lots of depts, including the largest and biggest spenders, these cuts are suspiciously (implausibly?) weighted to the final year

When I was working at HMT, during one fiscal event, someone senior came on the building intercom to ask us to stop watching the statement on our computers, to free up some bandwidth so they could upload the documents. Maybe they still haven’t upgraded to fiber?

New civil service staff numbers out today - and it looks like we're *back* to expansion again... Details from @teodorgrama.bsky.social 👇

An overall positive result in the results of the recent Microsoft 365 Copilot experiment - with some risks to carefully manage 🧵 www.gov.uk/government/p...

Good news on Places for Growth - as predicted, the programme met its target of relocating 22k jobs out of London, ahead of (accelerated) schedule. (Even if it's not totally clear how that's calculated..) It's also welcome that the Labour govt continued with the programme, started under prev govt

Essential context from @teodorgrama.bsky.social on the prevalence of EDI roles in the civil service - and how much (/little) could be saved by scrapping them

The latest speculation over the future of civil service staff numbers as a result of the spending review... There's definitely room to cut, but briefings aside, it seems that ministers are still avoiding setting a firm headcount target - which is the right approach www.ft.com/content/1311...

EVENT | Effective urban leadership: What are the international lessons for England’s mayors? 📅Wednesday 21 May, 09.30-10.30 Join us to discuss what lessons England’s growing cohort of mayors can learn from other countries. 🎫Sign up: www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/event/effect...

Headline of moving 12,000 CS jobs outside of London seems to have lots of strands to it. In summary lots good, and lots to do on CS reform still! 🧵 www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Great event kicking off here @instituteforgovernment.org.uk on rewiring the state. Michael Jary - former gov lead non exec director - kicks off with the case for forward-looking reform: 'populists flourish when governments fail to deliver'

Cabinet Office has indeed grown a *lot* in recent years Some of this reflects the build up of the civil service's corporate functions (eg HR, commercial) - whose employees often sit in line departments while formally being in CO. But even so - this is a very big increase

Great piece from @teodorgrama.bsky.social here - the latest in a series looking at how government can learn from the past in some important policy areas ⬇️

With all the talk of civil service efficiencies and (possible) staffing cuts...what do civil servants actually do? How many are in 'frontline' roles or back office functions? Wonder no more - new explainer from @instituteforgov.bsky.social here 👇 www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainer/wh...

A more eventful release of civil service staff numbers than usual today...showing only the second quarterly fall in numbers since the EU referendum. Full details from @teodorgrama.bsky.social 👇

Check out our latest webinar this lunchtime ⬇️⬇️⬇️ The big debut for @teodorgrama.bsky.social And @jackworlidge.bsky.social @hannahkeenan.bsky.social @emmanorris.bsky.social giving insights too Send your questions in!

TOMORROW: The state of the civil service: location, grade, pay and morale Join us at 12:30 for the final webinar in a three-part series on the findings of Whitehall Monitor 2025 www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/event/whiteh...

We’ve just recorded this week’s Inside Briefing - with the prime minister joining us following today’s speech in Yorkshire. @drhannahwhite.bsky.social’s interview with Keir Starmer will be landing in your podcast feeds tonight www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/our-podcasts...

Less than six months ago, Streeting said top-down reorganisation was the ‘last thing’ he wanted to do. What's changed since then? All of the problems cited have been evident for years. Why has it taken 9 months in office for Labour to make such a monumental decision?

There's a decent case for scrapping NHS England but doing so is a major change programme that will take up substantial ministerial and official time. Hard to see how govt can do this while also making good progress on meeting the 18 week target AND the three shifts ahead of the next election

The PM’s speech this morning didn’t have much detail on system-wide civil service reform – despite some welcome pitch rolling by McFadden over the weekend. But for what it’s worth, here’s my initial take on what was in there on civil service reform 🧵 (1/6)

@instituteforgov.bsky.social event with defence secretary John Healey now live on BBC news www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/event/john-h...

Generative AI & particularly LLMs will have a big impact on the civil service. For @instituteforgov.bsky.social I’ve zoomed into how it could change policymaking in particular. What are the opportunities & risks? Read my piece to find out! www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publication/...

NEW from me and @jackworlidge.bsky.social on what the findings from the IfG conference's exclusive polling mean for the Starmer govt. TL;DR: Delivering on the NHS and the cost of living is key if the public is to regain trust in govt effectiveness. Read the full piece here:

Today the Cabinet Office published the results of the 2024 Civil Service People Survey - the annual stocktake of officials' satisfaction and their views on all aspects of their working experience. Some brief highlights ...🧵

The Commissioner for Public Appointment's report for 2023-24 has now been published. It's a shame to see that delays to appointment processes got even worse, with only 13% concluding within the recommended timeframe of 3 months. publicappointmentscommissioner.independent.gov.uk/wp-content/u...

As churn rates fuel a new era of amnesia, Susan Allott asks if we can ever escape from Groundhog Day www.civilserviceworld.com/in-depth/art...

Great event coming up in a couple of weeks👇

Tomorrow we will be hosting Government 2025, our annual conference which will bring together influential speakers and experts to explore the key questions for government in 2025. From panel discussions to keynote speeches, here's a rundown of what we have lined up. 🗓️📺

Good to speak to @masonboyowen.bsky.social for this week’s Influence on post-spad life. They’re weird, hard and privileged jobs - which you soon realise you’ll never have again. Which is hard to adjust to…but at least you now get some severance after being shown the door!

The new @instituteforgov.bsky.social Whitehall Monitor - out today - has been making a lot of news And should give government lots to think about… Read the full report to find out more: www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publication/...

Analysis of departmental spending on consultancy and temporary staff is becoming a mainstay of our Whitehall Monitor report. This year's findings 👇

It’s @instituteforgov.bsky.social Whitehall Monitor launch day today! Brilliant colleagues @jackworlidge.bsky.social @alexgathomas.bsky.social @tompope.bsky.social and more bring you the essential study of how the civil service is performing… www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publication/...

Some key takeaways from our chapter on AI, digital and data in Whitehall Monitor 2025 [🧵]:

Today we’ve published Whitehall Monitor, the IfG’s annual report looking at the shape and size of the civil service As well as incisive analysis on how the civil service is performing, it also contains loads of great data viz. A short thread on some of my highlights 🧵

Today @instituteforgov.bsky.social have, alongside, PA Consulting, published Whitehall Monitor 2025, a review of where the civil service and Whitehall stand now. www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk I led on analysis of departmental spending. A few interesting charts/insights: 1/8

📢 Today at @instituteforgov.bsky.social we've published Whitehall Monitor 2025 - the 12th edition of our data-driven assessment of the UK civil service. It's been great to partner on the report with PA Consulting. Read the full report here: www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publication/...

[NEW] Whitehall Monitor 2025, our annual data-driven stocktake of the civil service, is out today. It examines the civil service that Starmer’s government inherited – and how Labour’s mission-led approach fits in with Whitehall’s ways of working www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publication/...

The latest edition of our annual Whitehall Monitor report is out today. How has the civil service changed in the last year? And how does it still need to change to deliver on the government’s missions? Quick 🧵 on some of our findings on churn and diversity 1/8

It was great to contribute to the final two chapters of the report: one on the ALB landscape, and one on AI, digital and data in the civil service. The latter in particular was a very new area of research for this ex-classicist and I had fun writing it with my colleague @jordanurban.bsky.social