IfG Events

Latest Episodes:

Are government departmental boards working? Sep 30, 2021

Show notes

Departmental boards were introduced to bring private sector oversight into central government departments. But how are people appointed as departmental non-executive directors? What experience do they bring? And what advice do they give to ministers?

A recent Institute for Government report exposed how the system lacks transparency and is inconsistently applied. Ministers can appoint non-executive directors without due process, and the influence of a department’s board depends on whether a minister chooses to engage with it or not.

So what can be done to make more use of board members’ expertise? What changes could help boards to improve departmental performance? What can be done to improve the transparency of board appointments?

To discuss these questions, the Institute for Government was delighted to bring together an expert panel:

Sue Langley, lead non-executive director for the Home Office and former interim government lead non-executive
Sir David Lidington, former Secretary of State for Justice, Leader of the House of Commons and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Dame Una O’Brien, former Permanent Secretary at the Department of Health
Miranda Curtis, Director at Liberty Global and former lead non-executive director for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The event was chaired by Dr Matthew Gill, Senior Fellow at the Institute for Government.

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Rail reform: making Great British Railways work for the next generation Sep 23, 2021

Show notes

What is Great British Railways? How will it end rail industry fragmentation? And how can it deliver a rail network that works for customers, taxpayers, politicians, and the wider public?

The new organisation is at the heart of the William-Shapps Plan for Rail, which reported in May. Keith Williams, Chair of the Review, describes the British railway network as a “complex Rubik’s cube” and says Great British Railways should be a central ‘guiding mind’ in a reformed rail system.

This event explored how to make a reformed rail network work for Great Britain’s long-term post-pandemic future, drawing on lessons from previous attempts at reshaping the rail industry and experiences of setting up arms-length bodies elsewhere.

Our panel:

Keith Williams, independent Chair of the Williams Review
The Rt Hon. the Lord Darling of Roulanish, former Secretary of State for Transport and former Chancellor of the Exchequer
Maria Machancoses, CEO of Midlands Connect
Andy Bagnall, Director General of the Rail Delivery Group

The event was chaired by Dr Matthew Gill, Senior Fellow at the Institute for Government.

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We are grateful to The Rail Delivery Group for their support with this event.

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Levelling up or catching up – what next for public services? Sep 22, 2021

Show notes

The pandemic has hit public services hard, creating backlogs - from children missing out on school lessons, to cancelled hospital operations and unheard court cases – and leaving local authorities facing budget shortfalls.

But as the government focuses on post-pandemic economic recovery, its priority is to ‘level up’ parts of the country which have fallen behind in terms of economic growth, opportunity, and wellbeing. With limited resources, how can public services both address backlogs and ‘level up’? Has the pandemic made levelling up harder for public services? How, if at all, can public services contribute to levelling up? What should the government do to help them both catch-up and level-up?

To discuss these questions and more, the IfG was delighted to host an expert panel including:

Baroness Armstrong, Chair of the House of Lords Public Services Committee
Saffron Cordery, Deputy Chief Executive of NHS Providers
Georgina Cox, Partner at PA Consulting
Rachel Wolf, Founding Partner at Public First and former Education and Innovation Adviser to David Cameron.

The event was chaired by Graham Atkins, Associate Director at the Institute for Government.

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We would like to thank PA Consulting for kindly supporting this event.

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Hitting net zero: how the government can decarbonise homes Sep 17, 2021

Show notes

Decarbonising homes will be among the most difficult elements of reaching net zero. Homes account for 15% of the UK’s total emissions, yet there has been little progress towards reducing these over the past decade. Confidence has been damaged by repeated U-turns and policy failures, including the Green Deal and the Green Homes Grant.

Achieving net zero by 2050 will require a huge national programme to deliver the infrastructure needed to reduce residential emissions – retrofitting homes, installing heat pumps and developing local heat networks. The government, businesses and consumers all have key roles to play. But how should the government approach policy making in this area? Will the long overdue Heat and Buildings Strategy be worth the wait and offer a clear plan? How can previous policy failures be learnt from? And how can we ensure the UK’s infrastructure is ready to support zero-emission homes?

On our panel to discuss these issues were:

Lord Callanan, Minister for Business, Energy & Corporate Responsibility at BEIS
Chris Burchell, Managing Director, Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) Distribution
Gillian Cooper, Head of Energy Policy at Citizens Advice
Guy Newey, Director of Strategy and Performance at the Energy Systems Catapult

This event was chaired by Marcus Shepheard, Senior Researcher at the Institute for Government.

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We would like to thank Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) Distribution for supporting this event.

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In conversation with Amanda Spielman, Ofsted Chief Inspector Sep 15, 2021

Show notes

From closed schools to postponed exams, isolating teachers to bursting classroom bubbles, the last 18 months of education has been massively disrupted by the Covid-19 crisis. What can be done to help those students that have fallen behind? How can the gaps in attainment be bridged? And what lessons has lockdown taught us about education?

To discuss the challenges facing the education system in the next phase of the pandemic and Ofsted's role in the new academic year and beyond, Amanda Spielman, the Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills, was in conversation with Bronwen Maddox, Director of the Institute for Government.

Amanda Spielman has been Ofsted Chief Inspector since January 2017. Between 2011 and 2016, she was chair of Ofqual, the qualifications regulator. From 2005 she was a founding member of the leadership team at the academy chain Ark Schools. Previously she worked at KPMG, Kleinwort Benson, Mercer Management Consulting and Nomura International.

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The UK border: will supply chain problems get worse? Sep 10, 2021

Show notes

From disrupted supply chains to a shortage of lorry drivers, Brexit and Covid have combined to cause major problems at the UK border. Nando’s, McDonald’s and the Co-op are just three of the firms to have been affected.

As pandemic-related travel problems continue, the true impact of post-Brexit border rules has yet to hit. Full border checks on EU imports to Great Britain will only come into effect later this year, while extensive controls on goods moving from Great Britain to Northern Ireland may be introduced in the autumn. Businesses and individuals are currently left in limbo as negotiations between the UK and EU continue over how the Northern Ireland protocol will operate long-term.

Will border disruption worsen as the year goes on? How ready are business and government for the introduction of new controls? Is the UK’s new immigration to blame for staffing issues? And what more can done to solve existing problems and prepare for further changes.

To discuss these issues, we were joined by an expert panel:

William Bain, Head of Trade Policy at the British Chambers of Commerce
Elly Darkin, Senior Associate at Global Counsel
Julian Jessop, Economics Fellow at the Institute of Economic Affairs
Ian Wright, Chief Executive of the Food and Drink Federation.

The event was chaired by Joe Marshall, Senior Researcher at the Institute for Government.

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In conversation with Louise Casey Sep 08, 2021

Show notes

The pandemic has exposed weaknesses in the way Britain supports its poorest families – and also strengths. What should the government learn from the last 18 months and what opportunities for reform can it seize? The Second World War led to the Beveridge report and the creation of the welfare state and the NHS; can the pandemic also galvanise radical change?

An adviser to successive governments, most recently as the chair of the government’s Covid-19 rough sleeping taskforce, Baroness Casey is now calling for major reform in the way governments tackle hunger, rough sleeping and poverty.

She was in conversation with Bronwen Maddox, Director of the Institute for Government

Baroness Casey has previously run the Rough Sleepers Unit, the Respect Task Force and the Troubled Families Unit. She also chaired this government’s Covid-19 rough sleeping taskforce.

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In conversation with Professor Neil Ferguson Sep 08, 2021

Show notes

As one of the UK’s top epidemiologists and the head of the influential modelling group at Imperial College London, Neil Ferguson has played a critical role in providing advice during the Covid-19 crisis, as well as previous crises including foot and mouth.

In conversation with Bronwen Maddox, Director of the Institute for Government, Professor Ferguson discussed the lessons he has learned about advising government, the role of scientific modelling in informing decision making and how scientists should communicate with the public. He also assessed the latest Covid-19 data, and what measures may need to be taken in the weeks and months ahead.

Professor Neil Ferguson is head of the Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology in the School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London.

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Climate: Can the UK be a global leader? Aug 09, 2021

Show notes

Climate change is already devastating lives and livelihoods every year. With heatwaves, floods, wildfires and other extreme weather events becoming more common in the UK and around the world, all countries need to adapt and build resilience. So as the UK prepares to host COP26, the UK presidency has placed climate adaptation at the heart of its agenda.

COP26 is a huge opportunity for the UK. How can the UK government show leadership on climate adaptation, both internationally and domestically? How can countries provide support for people most vulnerable to the effects of climate change? What role can early warning systems play and how can this help inform approaches by policy makers and donors? And how can the UK both learn from other countries facing climate risks and share the lessons of its own experiences?

This panel event brings together experts from the UK and overseas to consider these and other questions:

Richard Blewitt, Executive Director International at British Red Cross
Rt Hon Baroness Brown, (Professor Dame Julia King), Chair of the Climate Change Adaptation Committee and Chair of the Carbon Trust
Dr Jane Strachan, Head of International Applied Science at the Met Office
H.E. Ms Saida Muna Tasneem, High Commissioner of Bangladesh to the UK

The event is chaired by Marcus Shepheard, Senior Researcher at the Institute for Government.

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We would like to thank the British Red Cross and the Met Office for kindly supporting this event.

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Parliament, trade and treaties Jul 29, 2021

Show notes

The Brexit negotiations demonstrated long-standing weaknesses in parliament’s ability to scrutinise trade negotiations and international treaties – with much of the May government’s time spent managing attempts by parliamentarians to enhance their role. In light of the government’s post-Brexit ambition to conclude new trade deals with countries around the world, this panel examined how parliament currently scrutinises international treaties and what more parliamentarians should do to ensure effective scrutiny.

To discuss these issues, we were joined by:

Jill Barrett, Associate Member 6 Pump Court, International Law Consultant and former Foreign Office legal adviser
Mark Garnier MP, Member of the House of Commons International Trade Committee and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Department of Trade, 2016–18
Professor Holger Hestermeyer, Professor of International and EU law at King’s College London
Alex Horne, Counsel at Hackett and Dabbs LLP and Special Adviser to the House of Lords International Agreements Committee

The event was chaired by Maddy Thimont Jack, Associate Director at the Institute for Government.

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