🚨 OUT NOW 🚨 The Mandelson crisis exposes No 10's civil service rift Former Cabinet Secretary Lord Robin Butler, the IfG's @hannahkeenan.bsky.social, FDA's Dave Penman, and CSW's @suzannahb.bsky.social discuss the damaging sacking of Olly Robbins and its fallout Listen now: pod.fo/e/40598c

What are Civic Punks? Today I was able to cross something off my bucket list. To be interviewed by @suzannahb.bsky.social on the @civilserviceworld.bsky.social podcast! Such an honour. Learn more about Civic Punks by listening: www.civilserviceworld.com/more/podcast...

The Civil Service World Podcast | Civil Service World magazine

Listen to our podcasts and catch-up on the latest news and insights from the Civil Service

civilserviceworld.com

FDA boss hits out at government's treatment of the cabinet secretary www.civilserviceworld.com/professions/...

‘New low for this government’ – union responds to Chris Wormald exit

FDA boss hits out at government's treatment of the cabinet secretary

civilserviceworld.com

this is bad for the post of cabinet secretary and so bad for the civil service / good government / everyone.

Women following with a bucket...or glass cliffs in action? @cmenashejones.bsky.social explored the glass cliff phenomenon as part of wider research on women leaders in government. She wrote about it for us here: www.civilserviceworld.com/in-depth/art...

What do senior women leaders wish they could tell their younger selves?

You don’t need to be brave on your own – and other findings from a recent study

civilserviceworld.com

Rachel Cunliffe@rmcunliffe.bsky.social · 6mo ago

"History is women following behind with the bucket." So Morgan McSweeney has been replaced by Jill Cuthbertson and Vidhya Alakeson. Antonia Romeo is about to take over from Chris Wormald. Steph Driver may return to fill Tim Allan's vacancy. Sense that now there's a mess to mop up, get the women in

Great analysis here on the need for more visible leadership, and the damage done by dismissing a cabinet secretary in the wake of a political crisis. If Wormald does leave in the near future, a big job ahead for his successor to restore confidence in the role and the civil service

Hannah Keenan@hannahkeenan.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Some thoughts on Chris Wormald's short stint as cabinet secretary, and what Starmer needs from his next pick - which includes someone who's going to be a much more visible leader for hundreds of thousands of civil servants. 👇 www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/next...

Sounds like Cabinet Secretary is departing. If that is the case, some of details in this may have changed, but the overarching challenges for a new Cab Sec remain the same. Which itself tells a story. www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publication/...

The next cabinet secretary | Institute for Government

What lies ahead for the UK's new top civil servant.

instituteforgovernment.org.uk

Can a civil service career be creative? Loved interviewing Sherin Aminossehe for the latest @civilserviceworld.bsky.social podcast - we discuss her new book, swapping the private sector for the MoD, and the endless possibilities of working with public sector spaces open.spotify.com/episode/0WAC...

Art, railways and the unexpected creativity of the civil service: in conversation with Sherin Aminossehe

open.spotify.com

Another thing a government could do is increase the number of low-traffic zones so that kids can play outside and build more playgrounds with stuff that's fun to do for kids aged 10 and above, open swimming pools. Like actually nice things that will make people's lives better.

All set for our final webinar before the summer - with @jo3hill.bsky.social and @gracewyld.bsky.social looking back on a year of Labour administration and discussing the impact of mission-based government on the civil service. You can watch us here: m.youtube.com/watch?v=oXtQ...

There was a 2nd really positive announcement regarding Total Place in the 10 Year Health Plan - Increased autonomy ✅ - Pooling budgets ✅ - Shifting spending towards prevention ✅ Hopefully the 1st step of a wider public service shift to prevention: www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publication/...

Nick Davies@njdavies.bsky.social · last yr.

I really like the sound of the Total Place-style pooled budget pilots that Angela Rayner announced today. Little detail provided so far but potentially huge. This is how @instituteforgovernment.org.uk think Total Place pilots should work: www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publication/...

Intrigued by this in newly-published OECD research around how public in different countries perceive societal risks. Suggests the UK public are more open to migration than the OECD average, more keen on UBI, but less keen on investing in skills Full report: www.oecd.org/en/publicati...

Problems with the structure/support for Starmer in No.10 clearly remain, does it all stem to them not knowing or caring enough about what that structure should or could look like? He assumed the support he had as DPP or LOTO would just scale up?

James Ball@jamesrball.com · last yr.

There’s a fascinating category error in this quote: Campbell was a director of communications. McSweeney is a campaigns guy who’s become chief of staff. Those are three very different roles! That they’re being elided by the speaker (and Number 10) is, arguably, a large part of the problem.

There’s a fascinating category error in this quote: Campbell was a director of communications. McSweeney is a campaigns guy who’s become chief of staff. Those are three very different roles! That they’re being elided by the speaker (and Number 10) is, arguably, a large part of the problem.

The New Statesman@newstatesman1913.bsky.social · last yr.

A No 10 source told me Alastair Campbell “wouldn’t last two minutes in Morgan’s job” and was “utterly clueless about the sentiment and state of the country”. 🖊️ @georgeeaton.bsky.social www.newstatesman.com/politics/lab...

Some quick reactions to the Spending Review. Darren Jones told @instituteforgovernment.org.uk in March that mission boards were making s)ubmissions which would be negotiated alongside departmental settlements. I can't see any sign of those today.

If you don't already get the @civilserviceworld.bsky.social newsletter you missed an excellent line up this afternoon- we ferreted through the SR documents to find the bits which matter for civil servants. Subscribe now and make sure you don't miss our follow-ups over the rest of this week

Reeves has so far used the term "my choice" 17 times in her Spending Review speech, calculates colleague @zoecrowther.bsky.social. It's political framing, contrasting government with Tories / Reform, and seemingly also an attempt at better storytelling — which insiders admit hasn't been good enough

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?

Reeves has been talking for over half an hour and almost all her announcements are about new investment spending (where the envelope is quite generous). There will be fewer good news stories on day-to-day spending where the envelope is much tighter (or this will be a very long speech)

{I would like to be clear I am not anti-AI and welcome our robot overlords etc} I'm working on a new series profiling innovation in the civil service. I would love to speak with anyone doing something innovative that does NOT involve AI - any suggestions or connections please?

This thread combines two of my favourite things - management advice for officials and out of print books to add to my wonkish collection

steve the skeptic@policyskeptic.bsky.social · last yr.

Now that a new triumvirate of leaders (Jim Mackey, Penny Dash and Sam Jones, if confirmed as PS) have to rethink how to organise and manage the central team running the NHS, I have a suggestion for a book they should read...

The former cabinet secretary and head of the civil service on relations between ministers and officials, dealing with public criticism and his most enjoyable roles www.civilserviceworld.com/in-depth/art...

'There will be 10 things going wrong. You’ve got time to deal with three a day': Lunch with... Simon Case

The former cabinet secretary and head of the civil service on relations between ministers and officials, dealing with public criticism and his most...

civilserviceworld.com

Enjoying how the OBR is dealing with its obligation to assume fuel duty rises which have not materialised in over a decade (See also the memo they now include, mentioned in @sfrost.bsky.social's thread)

Stephen Frost@sfrost.bsky.social · last yr.

From today's OBR forecast: "The forecast also assumes that seldom-implemented fuel duty indexation and the reversal of the 5p cut from 2026-27 raises £4.6 billion in 2029-30... In practice, fuel duty rates have not been increased since 2011-12."

Loved joining this discussion - Hannah and Max both have excellent insight, and I start a Pat McFadden fan club...

Adam Payne@adampayne26.bsky.social · last yr.

This week's PolHome podcast is a banger @suzannahb.bsky.social & the @instituteforgov.bsky.social's Hannah Keenan join @alaintolhurst.bsky.social to discuss Keir Starmer's attempt to re-wire the state We're also joined by ex-No10 spokesperson Max Blain — his first media since leaving government!

Fascinating for the FOI implications rather than his use of ChatGPT which seems pretty much what you'd expect a tech minister to do with it. Worth reading in full as @stokel.bsky.social has delved into those FOI implications as well as Kyle's prompts

Chris Stokel-Walker@stokel.bsky.social · last yr.

🚨 @newscientist.com SCOOP: I've exclusively obtained Peter Kyle's interactions with ChatGPT using FOI laws - in what I believe may be a world-first transparency release. The chatbot said "Lack of Government or Institutional Support" slowed UK AI adoption www.newscientist.com/article/2472...

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

To support our work on Whitehall reform, we've launched our second Alternative People Survey with @civilserviceworld.bsky.social If you're a civil servant, we'd love to hear from you! It only takes a few minutes to complete & will help build insight into realities of life in the Civil Service 👇

Tickled by this description of aubergine in a 1980s vegetarian cookbook

Empowering, humble, candid, sweary (!) & v witty opening keynote speech from Baroness Louise at CSW’s inaugural Collaboration Conference #CSWcollab25

Agree. Seems a good day to repost this book review with its reminder that other innovation models are available www.civilserviceworld.com/professions/...

Book review: Neil Lee’s Innovation for the Masses is an ideal book for policymakers

Can we drive innovation and also build greater equality? This solution-focused guide suggests so

civilserviceworld.com

Giles Wilkes@gilesyb.bsky.social · 2y ago

I do wish British politicians would stop doing this Silicon Valley incantation