On Wednesday we hosted Mayor David Skaith for an 'In Conversation' as part of ongoing 'Meetings with Mayors' series Policy Director, @stkaye.bsky.social, has written a blog with his key takeaways from the event

Best of luck with what's next my friend. It has been a privelege.

🚨Personal news🚨 After three and a half brilliant, jam-packed years @reformthinktank.bsky.social, today is my final day I'll still be based in Westminster (more on this to come). But if I could just give a quick shout out to the exceptional people I've worked with 🧵

My last ever Reform blog! On the dynamics of when it's best/easiest to enact radical change

Why do we continue to see competitive salaries in the public sector as a problem? There are plenty of reasons to cull quangos, but how much senior staff are paid is not one of them In fact being able to pay a competitive salary is one reasons quangos are created

This says much more about the frugality of PM's pay than it does about officials running some of the most important and specialist parts of the State www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...

I've been wanting to write about this for a while. A senior official once told @reformthinktank.bsky.social that the future is "policymaking as code". What does that say about the value of policymaking? And the future of the civil service/think tank/charity complex?

How can we make Neighbourhood Boards truly successful? 🏘️ In the blog this week, researcher, @floconway.bsky.social, shares her thoughts...

V excited for this next week! 🔥 What's it really like working inside Downing Street? What works, what doesn't? How does the machine need to change?

🎉The Blog is out! This week, our Head of Health, @rosiebeacon.bsky.social, writes about the Govt's plans for secondary care and the challenges facing proposed reforms... 🏥🚑

The 'prioritise my thing' in Whitehall playbook: 1) The empowered Chair/Chief Exec 2) Unlimited authority - granted direct from PM 3) Single business case + budget 4) Pay *much* more than civil service to get *actual experts*

Antimicrobial resistance is a major challenge to the UK’s health security and is already responsible for a significant burden of death, disability and prolonged illness globally. We've submitted evidence to the Public Accounts Committee's inquiry on AMR governance, with insights from our research👇

Great to see the Evaluation Registry go live. As we argued in Efficiency Mindset, there should be every incentive for depts to develop policies with a strong VfM evidence base. Making past evaluations more transparent & accessible clearly supports this. civilservice.blog.gov.uk/2025/03/31/p...

We need to boldly commission a public review in how we mean to be bold. Then conduct a consultation on bold measures, put that through several cabinet committees, notably the Committee on Bold Action, and then argue about them in the run up to a fiscal moment. Where we'll discover there's no money

@theguardian.com is reporting that “In cases where it is essential quangos are independent from ministerial decision-making, for example those with a regulatory function or that scrutinise government or protect the rule of law, then these will remain unaffected.” t.co/h3OcjAIz09

Reform of the State is a precursor to economic growth. As @chriscurtis94.bsky.social says, the risk of keeping the status quo now "significantly outweighs the risk of reform". Our report with @labourgrowth.bsky.social sets out key steps that would allow for a more nimble, effective Whitehall.

It's really excellent to see today's announcement on pharmacy, and investment matching rhetoric on the shift to community health provision. We should recognise and reward decision-makers when they break from the status quo & immediate to invest in the long-term & important.

In a competitive and uncertain world, economic growth relies on a capable state that can act decisively to create opportunities and unblock barriers to progress Great to partner with @labourgrowth.bsky.social to make the case for Whitehall reform!

Well this is exciting We've joined up with the @labourgrowth.bsky.social to publish 9 steps to rewiring the State Reforming Whitehall is not a technocratic exercise, its essential to building a better Britain. This paper makes the case for turning gov into an enabler of growth

A brilliant and rare opportunity to come and work on some of the most interesting Qs of State capacity and resilience! What could be more important or timely? Highly recommend applying, and happy to chat about the role!

Missed our Spring Statement debrief event yesterday? Senior Researcher @patrickking.bsky.social has you covered with the key takeaways: reform.uk/comment/lets...

Our statement/budget debriefs are mr fav events in the Reform calendar And this one’s set to be as good as any! I’ll be blogging some key takeaways after. Stayed tuned!

Petition to bring back serious budget covers

@floconway.bsky.social and @patrickking.bsky.social argue in the MJ that delivering neighbourhood health will mean being radical in devolving power and resources to hyper-local areas👇 www.themj.co.uk/designing-hy...

The biggest neighbourhood health wins will come through experimentation not central direction Our report today argues that the design of a neighbourhood health service must put the autonomy of local leaders and providers front and centre My blog, on other key design principles👇

Now published! t.co/4LrNeOvspk

Will people in politics invent new phrases rather than using 30 year old impenetrable ones, or are they frit??????

Had a great time working on this with @floconway.bsky.social and discovering so many incredible examples of primary care innovation already underway Tomorrow we publish 'Designing a Neighbourhood Health Service' - setting out key design principles and lessons to take away

Today we are excited to launch our new programme, "Building the preventative state", in partnership with Newton. Our Director @charliepickles.bsky.social and Newton Senior Partner Richard Lum joined up to blog about what we're doing and why it matters. reform.uk/comment/buil...

The Week is out!🎉 "decisions made about spending and policy shouldn’t be put beyond the remit of elected ministers" This week, Policy Director, @jo3hill.bsky.social reflects on the Government's public service reform announcements

A few wks ago I asked whether NHSE is impossible to lead... and I guess Govt agreed...! At @reformthinktank.bsky.social, we have written extensively on the need for greater devolution in the health service to deliver a truly preventative, ppl-centred health system reform.uk/comment/is-t...

A big day in @reformthinktank.bsky.social towers yday as the pipeline from research to visible impact suddenly became very short As ever, announcing is much easier than implementing. So I wanted to re-share the reports that detail our thinking, to help w/ next steps🧵

"You said, we did"

Today's Civil Service reforms could be the most significant in at least a decade We know some of what will be announced: on AI, quangos and performance But what are the other big wins for modernisation?🧵

I write in @labourlist.bsky.social on why the PM’s decision to focus on the performance of public bodies should be applauded 👇 t.co/YUsP8ijz48

V. serious signal being sent by a body as big as Homes England being brought into the department. It was one of ~100 public bodies that we argued, in our recent report, doesn't require arm's-length status. See below for the full list.

Brilliant to see the PM going big on quangos this week. And to have our report cited in The Times splash about his speech. Public bodies are responsible for 60% of day-to-day spending. Fixing how they’re held accountable & overseen by depts is vital for effective delivery👇

I also wrote a piece for the @telegraphnews.bsky.social on how the NHS actually works. We've ended up with a half devolved, half centralised NHS which achieves the policy ambitions of neither system. And just streamlining NHSE doesn't fix this identity crisis 👇 www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/03...

V. glad to see government recognising that the complexity of the ALB landscape is a serious barrier to delivery - as we argued in our report Quangocracy, only 2 weeks ago.

Senior Researcher @patrickking.bsky.social writes in Conservative Home that, without reform, public bodies are a risk to unified government delivery. conservativehome.com/2025/03/07/p...

The local govt team at @reformthinktank.bsky.social are on a roll of punchy, practical papers to meaningfully devolve power and change the architecture of UK governance. Today's report is another must-read.

Mayor Claire Ward of EMCA joined us this morning for 'meetings with mayors' Missed it? You can watch it back here reform.uk/featured/in-... & we have more scheduled, with Richard Parker and Oliver Coppard (& more mayors in the pipeline!) Email [email protected] to sign up!

I argue in the blog this week why the next Spending Review would be remiss not to focus on the value for money secured by public bodies.

"It’s clearly unacceptable for sponsorship of bodies which spend billions of pounds to be deprioritised in Whitehall." Great first op-ed by @alicesemark.bsky.social in @civilserviceworld.bsky.social on our report, Quangocracy, published last week! www.civilserviceworld.com/news/article...

Civil service reform has a tendency to focus on policy & a proportionately small number employed in SW1. If the PM is serious about rewiring the State, he must also focus on the 60% of day-to-day spending through public bodies. A quick🧵on our report Quangocracy, from last week

Great thread on where the government should look on civil service reform

When we talk about ‘rewiring the State’, this is the big prize that very few governments have thought strategically about or gripped. Delighted to have our report on the future of public bodies out today.

Very excited for this to be out tomorrow 👀🔥

Over half of day-to-day spending is through public bodies. If they’re not delivering, government isn’t delivering. Yet new @reformthinktank.bsky.social research shows we often can’t tell either way. I’m in @thetimes.com on the need to improve oversight of public bodies: bit.ly/41jGIu2

Am I right in thinking that it's not public which Directors General are SROs for the Government's five missions? (Other than the Home Office, which names them on their governance page)