This is a genuinely exciting announcement about Burnham's intention for public service reform There are some potentially massive changes to the way that services are funded and operate A few things that jumped out at me 👇 www.gov.uk/government/p...

Rewiring the State – Cabinet Statement (HTML)

gov.uk

New comment: PM buy-in is needed to reform adult social care, so yesterday's speech was positive And political consensus would help. But waiting for consensus shouldn't stop reform, else Burnham risks becoming the latest PM to fail on social care www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/article/comm...

Burnham can’t take the politics out of social care reform | Institute for Government

The new PM will have to prioritise to make progress on social care during this parliament

instituteforgovernment.org.uk

📢 CourtWatch is back - and this time we’re taking on the whole of England and Wales! We’re looking for volunteers to observe hearings in their local magistrates’ courts and report back to us. 🔗Sign up now to get info on online training sessions transformjustice.eo.page/courtwatchlo...

Yesterday, the Health Foundation published analysis finding no evidence that the Palantir/FDP tool OPTICA, has cut discharge delays, further undermining NHS England claims that it had. bsky.app/profile/dian...

Diane Coyle@dianecoyle1859.bsky.social · last wk.

It’s a rip-off price, the vendor is toxic, and it seems the software doesnt deliver: www.ft.com/content/cbd1... Palantir tool has not cut hospital discharge delays, study says

The new prime minister is about to run out of prison spaces. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. But once again, there are no easy answers and just cancelling early releases is not a solution. The focus must be on public protection - including better protection in the community. 🧵

The government must focus on public protection when it comes to prison releases | Institute for Government

There are no easy answers to meeting the prison capacity challenge.

instituteforgovernment.org.uk

Major machinery of govt changes including - finally! - the creation of an Office for the Prime Minister and Cabinet Long overdue and excellent news that the Burnham govt has grasped this nettle questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-stat...

Written statements - Written questions, answers and statements - UK Parliament

Information from UK Parliament on written questions & answers, written statements and daily reports.

questions-statements.parliament.uk

As Ed Miliband looks set to leave DESNZ a short 🧵on the department's achievements with him as minister and where there's still work to do:

Its a sad ending for Britain's first woman Chancellor (as Theresa May once said - hopefully not the last) as Rachel Reeves returns to the backbenches. But she bears a lot of the responsibility for the failures of the Starmer government. The biggest mistakes were before the 2024 election

We have our new PM. Alongside, we’ll get a whole host of new ministers. We’re expecting new leaders in most of the big public service departments: health, justice, local government, home office, & maybe education too. But what will this mean for services and all their ongoing reforms? 🧵

The day’s first casualty: James Timpson resigns as prisons minister. This is a big surprise! Timpson had a long history as a prisons reformer before entering government and seen as one of Starmer’s more innovative & exciting appointments. He’s also delivered a big change programme in gov. So: why?

Prisons minister Lord Timpson quits government

The businessman said it was an "honour" to serve in the post, but the BBC understands he feels he has achieved all he can in the role.

bbc.co.uk

People want to take functions away from HM Treasury. I want to give it a new one - getting the UK's act together on climate adaptation www.ft.com/content/2789... (£) - much more than an environment issue..

The UK is forgetting the dull bit of climate change policy

Adaptation has never been the priority, but this summer’s heat is a message that the Treasury needs to act

ft.com

NEW REPORT: how to make a success of SEND reform Government needs to get off the sidelines and build a SEND system that makes it easier for schools, councils and health services to work together. Our new report sets out how 🧵

Joining up SEND | Institute for Government

How to begin fixing SEND by making the system more joined-up.

instituteforgovernment.org.uk

New comment: Starmer can credibly say he steadied the ship on public services But his govt launched a haphazard set of reforms and performance has not improved radically What choices does Burnham face? What can he do in the next ~3 years? 🧵👇 www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/burn...

Burnham should learn from Starmer’s successes and failures on public services | Institute for Government

Keir Starmer squandered the opportunity to reform public services.

instituteforgovernment.org.uk

What would a Burnham govt mean for public services? How can he bring a more coherent approach to reform? No better way to answer those Qs than with a guest blog from Thomas Johnson who works on reform strategy in GMCA, Burnham's old patch Short 🧵👇 www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publication/...

The radical rewiring of the state: what devolution must deliver | Institute for Government

Devolution is a means of building a more capable state: one that can connect prevention, productivity, growth and fiscal sustainability.

instituteforgovernment.org.uk

We are hiring! Brilliant senior job running our new UK Government team… …looking for someone creative and strategic with experience of government who would seize this fantastic opportunity to make government work well for the people of the UK! www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/about-us/car...

Director, UK Government | Institute for Government

A rare and exciting opportunity to become a core member of the Institute for Government’s newly restructured senior team.

instituteforgovernment.org.uk

Good decision by Burnham (if true). He needs to prioritise improving the centre of govt and economic/fiscal policy making, but splitting the Treasury would be a damaging distraction (set up a bolstered PM dept, have a bold tax strategy and improve the SR instead) www.ft.com/content/61c0...

Andy Burnham rules out splitting Treasury to avoid disruption

Likely next prime minister has been rethinking Britain’s economic levers to promote regional growth

ft.com

Pub opening hours for special occasions remain my go-to example for helping people understand the differences between primary and secondary legislation and how the two interact with each other. Which I appreciate is not very exciting.

Jessica Elgot@jessicaelgot.bsky.social · last mo.

Why go through this ridiculous rigmarole of saying “oh dear oh no we can’t open the pubs for the England game…” before the inevitable opening the pubs? We all know you're going to open the pubs! Get on with it.

Quite here for No.10 North (if that's what we're calling it). Loads of pitfalls, and I think you do need to keep quite a lot of centre of gov in your capital city, but there is a v good version of this which moves out Burnham priorities. Have written down some ideas on how to make it work 👇

No.10 North: Burnham needs to be clear-eyed about the purpose of his Manchester office | Institute for Government

An overwhelmed 10 Downing Street could be improved by creating No.10 North.

instituteforgovernment.org.uk

It's progress like this that should remind us that making the world better isn't all reliant on having l loads of money to spend, thankfully

Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan@london.gov.uk · last mo.

There were those who doubted us, but a new independent report shows major reductions in air pollution in our city are linked to an estimated 40% fewer annual premature deaths.

10 years ago I was organising a barbecue for @instituteforgovernment.org.uk staff to watch the result of the referendum. The IfG had acted until then as though the EU did not exist. After the referendum we built a fantastic team which I had the privilege of leading for 2 years

Excellent. About bloody time. What excuse is there for any other Department -and the PM?

Peter Walker@peterwalker99.bsky.social · 2mo ago

NEW: The attorney general, Richard Hermer, has told his office to no longer post on X, making it the first UK government department to stop using the Elon Musk-owned platform amid increasing worries about its use to incite violence and racism. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

I don’t have strong views on the u16 social media ban but if these platforms are so harmful, why does the govt still use them for comms? Likewise, while kids (and everyone else!) should be encouraged to socialise in-person, they now have far fewer options following brutal cuts to youth services

As debates rage about where to get the money for higher defence spending, it’s important we have a clear picture of how we spent the peace dividend while it was around. Thread 🧵⤵️

Defence secretary John Healey has just resigned over the govt's Defence Investment Plan, writing that it "falls well short of what is required for defence and the country at this dangerous time". We're getting our @instituteforgovernment.org.uk resignation chart fired back up..

I think this is at the core of the issue re anti-racism guidance. Similar example: should police treat men and women the same? In some ways, clearly yes: a woman who commits a crime should get the same treatment as a man who commits an equivalent crime. But in practice it’s more complicated:

Gavin Hales@gmhales.bsky.social · 2mo ago

- It also seems uncontentious that service delivery should take account of individuals' circumstances and ensure that people aren't disadvantaged because of those circumstances, which I think is where 'not treating everyone the same' comes in.

NEW | A ‘radical overhaul’ is the wrong move for the youth justice system The government’s white paper risks undermining one of the few public services currently working well, says @cassiarowland.bsky.social Read our latest comment: www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/article/comm...

A ‘radical overhaul’ is the wrong move for the youth justice system | Institute for Government

The government’s white paper risks undermining one of the few public services currently working well

instituteforgovernment.org.uk

Utterly joyous on the streets of North London

Friends have started messaging to ask if the tracker is back yet. I’m afraid it is…

Megan Bryer@meganbryer.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Miatta Fahnbulleh - the minister for devolution, faith and communities - has resigned from govt this morning, calling on the PM to set a timetable for an orderly transition of leadership. Our ministerial resignation tracker has the latest info... docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

There is something that I think multiple successive prime ministers over the last decade or so have failed to grasp and to respond to: that the way backbench MPs see their role has shifted.