Tamara Finkelstein, Permanent Secretary at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and Head of the UK Civil Service Policy Profession, is clear that generalist skills are essential but questions whether it is time to move away from generalists as roles sitting outside of professions. 

Tamara set out current plans for the Policy Profession, which provides a professional home and career anchor for former generalists, and how it is providing a framework for building and improving skills. This was followed by a discussion about how to build the skills they need and how to embed professional expertise in the policy-making process.

For this discussion we were delighted to be joined by:

Tamara Finkelstein, Permanent Secretary at Defra and Head of the Civil Service Policy Profession
Aaron Maniam, Fellow of Practice and Director, Digital Transformation Education at the Blavatnik School of Government
Lord Vallance, Minister of State for Science, Research and Innovation

The panel was chaired by Alex Thomas, Programme Director at the Institute for Government.

The future of the Civil Service Policy Profession: The end of the generalist?

The new public sector Probation Service was created in 2021 to unify the outsourced management of low- and medium-risk offenders with the public sector management of high-risk offenders.

While the initial transition went well, four years on probation still faces deep structural challenges – as do other public services. The government is committed to public service reform and a ‘mission-driven’ approach, but it is not yet clear what this will look like.

So what can the government learn about improving public service reform from probation insourcing? What are the implications for Labour’s strategic review of probation governance? And what comes next for the probation service?

To discuss these questions and more, we were joined by an expert panel including: 

Professor Harry Annison, Co-Investigator of Rehabilitating Probation Research Project, and Professor of Criminal Justice at Southampton Law School
Helen Berresford, Director of External Engagement at Nacro
Sam Freedman, Senior Fellow at the Institute for Government
Martin Jones CBE, HM Chief Inspector of Probation

The event was chaired by Cassia Rowland, Senior Researcher at the Institute for Government.

This event was kindly supported by Rehabilitating Probation.

What lessons can government learn from the insourcing of probation services?

This special event to mark International Women’s Day, saw Lucy Powell, Leader of the House of Commons, discuss the modernisation of parliament and how the Modernisation Committee can help make the House more accessible, effective and inclusive.

Powell was in conversation with Dr Hannah White, Director and CEO of the Institute for Government.

Lucy Powell has served as the MP for Manchester Central since 2012 and became Leader of the House after the 2024 election. In this role, she represents the government in Parliament and Parliament in government. She is also a member of the House of Commons Commission, which oversees the administration of the House, and chairs the Modernisation Committee.

International Women's Day and modernising parliament: Lucy Powell in conversation with Hannah White

Whitehall Monitor 2025 – the Institute for Government’s flagship annual report on the civil service – found that high staff turnover, confused workforce planning, slipping morale and uncompetitive pay will hinder its ability to deliver Labour’s missions, even with an increased headcount and a relentless pressure for greater efficiency and productivity

Keir Starmer and Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden have shown a welcome enthusiasm for Whitehall reform – including a commitment to a “test and learn” mindset and “mission boards” – but little will change until long-running civil service challenges, like excessive staff turnover and falling morale, are resolved.

This webinar – the third in a three-part series focusing on the report’s findings – examined the relationship between civil service pay and the shift in grade structure since 2010, as well as trends in officials’ morale.

The webinar featured:

Teodor Grama, Research Assistant at the Institute for Government
Hannah Keenan, Associate Director at the Institute for Government
Jack Worlidge, Senior Researcher at the Institute for Government and lead author of Whitehall Monitor 2025
The event was chaired by Emma Norris, Deputy Director of the Institute for Government.

The state of the civil service: location, grade, pay and morale

The IfG was delighted to welcome Rt Hon Darren Jones MP, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, to set out how smarter decision-making methods in government can reduce waste and deliver for the taxpayer.

In a speech at the IfG, Darren Jones set out his plans to reform government financial systems to achieve better strategic financial decision making going forward. This comes after the prime minister last week announced plans to reshape the way the British state delivers and serves working people by becoming more tech-driven, productive, agile and mission focused. 

Darren Jones was then in conversation with IfG Chief Economist Gemma Tetlow and took part in an audience Q&A.  

A keynote speech by Darren Jones MP, Chief Secretary to the Treasury

The IfG was pleased to welcome Rt Hon Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, to deliver a keynote speech on how the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) plans to use its expanding powers and spending freedoms.

From April 2025, Greater Manchester will be funded by a new ‘integrated settlement’ that gives the mayor and other local leaders far greater control of spending in areas such as transport, skills, employment and housing. In his speech, Andy Burnham set out his vision for how these powers should be used to drive growth and improve outcomes for people across the region, and what further powers should be devolved.

Andy Burnham was then in conversation with IfG Devolution Programme Director Akash Paun.

A keynote speech by Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester

Keir Starmer commissioned a number of high-profile reviews into difficult policy areas on taking office, but the prime minister seems to have become more sceptical about their value in recent weeks.

At this event, to mark the launch of a new IfG report on lessons from past policy reviews, a panel of former reviewers and commissioners of reviews explored when reviews can lead to real change – and what needs to be done to ensure they succeed.  

When is it the right time to launch a review? How should ministers best set up, work with and respond to reviews? And has the prime minister changed his view of reviews – and, if so, why?

Discussing these questions, and more, were:  

Rt Hon Ed Balls, former Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families and Special Adviser at HM Treasury (and commissioner of several reviews)
Dame Carol Black, leader of multiple past reviews, including: the Review of Drugs (2021), Drug and Alcohol Addiction, and Obesity: effects on employment outcomes review (2016), Health at Work Review (2011) and Working for a Healthier Tomorrow Review (2008)
Dame Tracey Crouch, former Minister for Sport and Civil Society and Chair of the Fan-led Review of Football Governance (2021)
Sir Howard Davies, Chair of the Airports Commission (2012–15)

The event was chaired by Jill Rutter, Senior Fellow at the Institute for Government. 

Government reviews: Dither and delay, or route to reform?

Productivity in public services has never been more important. Most services are struggling to return to pre-pandemic performance levels, and the new Labour government has indicated that spending will remain tight. Improvements in performance will likely come from frontline workers finding new, innovative ways of delivering services.  

So what can be done to improve productivity? By highlighting outstanding examples of innovation across public services, Productivity Pitches, a series of events hosted by the IfG, aims to share and support ways to improve performance levels.

This event was the sixth in the series and focused on central government.

Each speaker had 10 minutes to present their innovation, followed by 10 minutes of audience questions. The chair and a guest from The Productivity Institute – which is kindly supporting this event series – brought together the common themes from the pitches and discussed the lessons for improving productivity.

The speakers for this edition of Productivity Pitches were:  

Brice Dassy and Dominic Lague on how the Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) has recently started using the Cabinet Office-developed Government Reporting Integration Platform (GRIP) to simplify and speed up the data collection and sharing process for major projects, providing ministers with more timely and relevant information than under the previous system.

Neil Lloyd on The National Underground Asset Register (NUAR), the first centralised record of all assets that are buried under the ground. When fully implemented, the NUAR will save a range of government agencies time and money when carrying out vital road works and other construction projects.

The event was chaired by Emma Norris, Deputy Director at the Institute for Government. Institute for Government. Bart van Ark, the Managing Director of The Productivity Institute, joined the discussion of common themes.

Productivity Pitches is kindly supported by The Productivity Institute.

Productivity Pitches #6: What can central government do to improve productivity in public services?

Keir Starmer has said that “nothing less than the complete re-wiring of the British state” is needed for the public sector – and in particular the civil service – to deliver the government’s agenda. So what should this transformation look like – and how can it be made to last?

As the government’s former lead Non-Executive Director, Michael Jary CBE worked closely with the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, the Cabinet Secretary, the Civil Service Chief Operating Officer, as well as other senior civil servants across government, and has an unparalleled view on what works in Whitehall – and beyond – and what needs to change. In a speech at the IfG, he set out his views on what needs to change – and how this change can be embedded throughout the civil service – before taking part in a panel conversation.

Alongside Michael, we were be joined by:

Josie Cluer, Partner, People Advisory Services at Ernst & Young LLP
Alex Thomas, Programme Director at the Institute for Government
Rt Hon Sir Jeremy Quin, former Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office 
The event was chaired by Emma Norris, Deputy Director of the Institute for Government.

How can government be transformed?

Almost 15 years on from the coalition government’s white paper Universal Credit: Welfare that Works, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has finally concluded that its overhaul of the benefits systems is nearly complete. A few thousand people are yet to be transferred from tax credits, income support and Jobseeker’s Allowance, and a rather larger numbers are still on Employment and Support Allowance, but the DWP is confident of completion by the end of the year. The Universal Credit programme board has been closed down and the department plans to publish its version of “lessons learned” from a programme that was meant to have taken seven years from the white paper but will have taken 15.

So what can this and future governments learn from the delivery of this major reform programme? How was the Universal Credit project turned around from near disaster in 2013?  And, as it nears completion, what is the impact of Universal Credit?

To explore these questions and more, the IfG was delighted to bring together an expert panel featuring:

Neil Couling, the Senior Responsible Owner for Universal Credit for a decade until March this year
Tom Loosemore, Co-founder of Public Digital and Co-author of Nesta’s report on how to transform government services
Jill Rutter, Senior Fellow at the Institute for Government
Tom Waters, Associate Director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies

The event was chaired by Nicholas Timmins, Senior Fellow at the Institute for Government and author of the IfG’s 2016 report Universal Credit: From Disaster to Recovery? 

From disaster to completion: What can government learn from the Universal Credit story?

Elections were held across England on 1 May, with votes cast for four regional mayors, in 24 of England’s 317 councils and to decide the new MP for Runcorn and Helsby. So who are England’s newly-elected mayors and what might they do with the power they wield? What impact will the elections have on the Labour government's devolution agenda? And what happens next with its plans to reorganise local government across England?  

To explore these questions and more, the IfG was delighted to bring together an expert panel featuring:

Matthew Fright, Senior Researcher at the Institute for Government
Stuart Hoddinott, Senior Researcher at the Institute for Government
Sarah Routley, Research Assistant at the Institute for Government
The webinar was chaired by Akash Paun, Devolution Programme Director at the Institute for Government.  

What do the 2025 mayoral and local election results mean for Keir Starmer’s government?

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The future of the Civil Service Policy Profession: The end of the generalist?

Institute for Government

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