The creation of the Government Digital Service in 2011 was the start of one of the boldest and most impactful reforms of the last 60 years. It is a playbook for high impact reform. My case study is due Nov 2026. My blog says why the story matters and how its exposes civil service dysfunction.

A barium meal: what the Government Digital Service’s story reveals about a Civil Service that struggles to reform itself

Source: A GDS story 2013. The first birthday of GOV.UKThe creation of the Government Digital Service in 2011 was the start of one of the boldest and most impactful reforms of the last 60 years. The GD...

civilservicereformuk.com

Despite the ubiquity of top down control by government through performance measurement and management regimes - they rarely work: doomed by their profoundly flawed view of what motivates public servants. My blog shows why they persist and why they fail. I sketch out a better approach.

The rise and fail of top-down control

Image created by Freepik 23-8-2025Why government should kick its addiction to failed top-down controlsDespite the ubiquity and longevity of top down control by government through performance measureme...

civilservicereformuk.com

Really happy to have played a very minor role in supporting @jonathanslater.bsky.social in his characteristically optimistic and determined drive to work out how we can stop failing the poorest young people at school. www.ucl.ac.uk/policy-lab/n...

Failure of school system to support poorest students is leading to rising NEET figures

The school system consistently fails society’s poorest children and requires thorough reform, finds new UCL Policy Lab report authored by former Department for Education Permanent Secretary, Jonathan ...

ucl.ac.uk

I strongly recommend that fellow reform geeks take a look at this excellent report from Amy Gandon, now working with Demos. She gets under the bonnet of how civil servants really feel about their civil service to explore what it is about Whitehall that scuppers so many reform efforts.

Despite the ubiquity of top down control by government through performance measurement and management regimes - they rarely work: doomed by their profoundly flawed view of what motivates public servants. My blog shows why they persist and why they fail. I sketch out a better approach.

The rise and fail of top-down control

Image created by Freepik 23-8-2025Why government should kick its addiction to failed top-down controlsDespite the ubiquity and longevity of top down control by government through performance measureme...

civilservicereformuk.com

Despite the longevity of top down control by government through performance management regimes  - they rarely work. My new blog unpicks their flawed foundations. I sketch out a new model. But there are big barriers to making the change we need. www.civilservicereformuk.com/single-post/...

The rise and fail of top-down control

Image created by Freepik 23-8-2025Why government should kick its addiction to failed top-down controlsDespite the ubiquity and longevity of top down control by government through performance measureme...

civilservicereformuk.com

A very sound and important post from @jillongovt.bsky.social and @tompope.bsky.social. This is shockingly overdue and fits perfectly with Rayner’s devolution agenda. How does the treasuries misconceived control freakery endure when there are so many good people working there?

Jill Rutter@jillongovt.bsky.social · last yr.

if Mayors ask to be allowed to levy tourist taxes, let them - @instituteforgovernment.org.uk blog by me and @tompope.bsky.social www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/rach... - time to end HMT control freakery

My new blog is one for serious reform geeks - my conceptual model for an episode of civil service reform. The blog outlines the research that led to it. The model will provide the lens for a series of reform case studies. www.civilservicereformuk.com/single-post/...

Cracking the code: understanding successful civil service reform

My civilservicereformuk.com research programme is looking differently at civil service reforms to provide insights into the practice of reform that will help ministers and officials succeed in future ...

civilservicereformuk.com

My new blog is one for serious reform geeks - my conceptual model for an episode of civil service reform. The blog outlines the research that led to it. The model will provide the lens for a series of reform case studies. www.civilservicereformuk.com/single-post/...

Cracking the code: understanding successful civil service reform

My civilservicereformuk.com research programme is looking differently at civil service reforms to provide insights into the practice of reform that will help ministers and officials succeed in future ...

civilservicereformuk.com

As the numbers are crunched and Rachel Reeves's spending review winners and losers emerge, whatever happened to Labour's vision of "mission-led" government...? Here's @drhannahwhite.bsky.social's on the day verdict for the @theguardian.com ... www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Has Rachel Reeves made the right choices? Our panel responds to the spending review

The chancellor announced spending on health, housing, defence, and infrastructure. But will it be felt by ordinary voters? Polly Toynbee, Kirsty Major, Sahil Dutta, Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah, Jonny R...

theguardian.com

Are we witnessing the slow death of the council tax? On the face of it #localgov doesn't do too badly from the spending review, but a lot of that new money is actually the government banking a universal 5% rise in council tax, 2% of which is a straightforward national precept for social care.

Our @instituteforgovernment.org.uk spending review analysis is out! Take a read here www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/spen... Our key takeaways: 1/7

Spending review 2025: Six key things we learned from Rachel Reeves' announcement | Institute for Government

IfG experts set out the six things they learned from the spending review.

instituteforgovernment.org.uk

5 Missions were to be the North Star for Starmer. 12 wasted months later they are obscured by cloud. The spending review looks more like Osborne’s 2010 axe than a mission led investment in key milestones. A bold and reformist reset is needed. www.civilservicereformuk.com/single-post/...

The avoidable demise of mission led government

Prime Minister Starmer promised that five Missions would be the North Star for his government.Almost 12 months later they are obscured by cloud. And a storm of cabinet disunity is looming.There is a s...

civilservicereformuk.com

Interested in learning and development? Want to make government more effective? We are looking for a Learning and Development Officer to join our @ifgacademy.bsky.social team. Applications will close on Sunday 11 May at 11:59pm - find out more www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/about-us/car...

Full article: Future Directions of Public Administration Research—Addressing Fundamental Issues and Questions www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Future Directions of Public Administration Research—Addressing Fundamental Issues and Questions

This introduction to the special issue on future directions of Public Administration research addressing fundamental issues and questions, reflects on some selected subjects emerging from the accep...

tandfonline.com

Not one but TWO new senior research roles have opened up @carnegieuk.bsky.social Are you a proven researcher who wants to work at the interface between data, research, public policy and practice? Research and Insight: https://buff.ly/40wnmml Data and Insight: https://buff.ly/40xXHK7

As govt doubles down on turbocharging w/ AI narrative, it feels relevant to reshare some work I commissioned at @jrf-uk.bsky.social asking experts 'To what extent can AI improve public policymaking?' This response from @gavinfreeguard.bsky.social is a personal fave! www.jrf.org.uk/ai-for-publi...

Definitions, digital, and distance: on AI and policymaking

Human decisions will drive the deployment of technology in policymaking, for good and ill. Better policymaking should make lives better for humans, which is why we should listen to them.

jrf.org.uk

Research from Elston and MacCarthaigh provides serious food for thought for treasury ministers who would fall for the easy politics of centralised input controls like shared services. Spoiler alert: few cashable savings, generate hidden costs and disempower managers from improving efficiency.

Sharing services, saving money? Five risks to cost-saving when organizations share services

Shared services are a popular reform for governments under financial pressure. The hope is to reduce overheads and increase efficiency by providing support services like HR, finance and procurement...

doi.org

Join the team! 📢 We’re excited to be recruiting two new roles to join our policy team, focusing on research and data. 🔵 Senior Researcher (Research and Insight) 🔵 Senior Researcher (Data and Insight) Find out more and apply: carnegieuk.org/work-with-us/

Work With Us - Carnegie UK

carnegieuk.org

Ministers and officials need to confront the two lies that dog spending reviews: effiencies are rarely that, instead they lead to blunt cuts with unconsidered consequences; the Treasury's self-identity as a strategic performance budgeter is shattered by their increased use of input controls

It is time to confront the 2 great lies of UK spending reviews

As we head into an unusually significant ‘outcome focused’ spending review ministers and senior officials should reflect on two mistruths that have dogged public expenditure controls and the accompany...

civilservicereformuk.com

Ministers and officials need to confront the two lies that dog spending reviews: effiencies are rarely that, instead they lead to blunt cuts with unconsidered consequences; the Treasury's self-identity as a strategic performance budgeter is shattered by their increased use of input controls

It is time to confront the 2 great lies of UK spending reviews

As we head into an unusually significant ‘outcome focused’ spending review ministers and senior officials should reflect on two mistruths that have dogged public expenditure controls and the accompany...

civilservicereformuk.com

And the NHS actually spends less on things we consider “waste”, like admin and managers, than many other nations. The NHS may indeed be inefficient — but it is not “bloated”. Rather, it is inefficient because it is run too lean. More in my column 🔗 www.thetimes.com/article/1130...

Devolution has some work to do. Stark picture of re-centralisation and defunding of local public service - taking out a third of local government jobs since Osborne’s spiteful axe in 2010.

James Bowman@jamesbowmanpwc.bsky.social · 2y ago

I post an update on this every year. The centralisation of the UK public sector continues - with the move from #localgov to #centralgov employment. This is a systemic change that has come without a public debate. h/t @thomasforth

In this reform smackdown @jdportes.bsky.social wins on two counts: HMT should be able to do finance and growth simultaneously; 60 years of wasteful structural battles achieved less than next step reform’s delegation of finance controls. Yes to beefing up no10 ability to challenge HMT constructively.

Jonathan Portes@jdportes.bsky.social · 2y ago

Mend it or end it? Me vs @stianwestlake.bsky.social in this piece by @cjayanetti.bsky.social www.politicshome.com/news/article...

Excl: Government will move to scrap district councils in its devolution white paper on Monday, sparking the biggest local government reorganisation in 50 years on.ft.com/3VBH0ui

District councils face scrapping in major overhaul of English local government

[FREE TO READ] Devolution white paper aims to create larger authorities and more elected mayors

on.ft.com

Our brand new Clean Power 2030 Action Plan is published today. We’ve produced this at lightning pace - it’s packed with new steps towards clean power. We’re moving quickly and making big decisions to open the path to 2030. www.gov.uk/government/p...

Pat McFadden’s speech today signals a big change in how central government sees its role. The implications of the implied system leadership role puts them on course for bold (and contested) reforms. They must understand why previous efforts failed and confront the barriers head on. My blog post

The plan for change – measures, milestones and public service reform

Key speeches by the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster have signalled that the government has serious ambitions for civil service and public service reform.On 5th December The...

civilservicereformuk.com

Wondered what 'test and learn' means? I've written this to unpack and explain it public.digital/pd-insights/...

Just what is 'Test and Learn'?public digitalpublic digital

A blog explaining the concept of Test and Learn in organisational change

public.digital

Excellent essay from @sarahdavidson.bsky.social with lessons farther down the road of strategic government than England. There is so much to learn from the Scottish Experiment (ignored by the uk civil service). Really relevant to missions and civil service reform teams. My case study due in 2025.

Carnegie UK@carnegieuk.bsky.social · 2y ago

A new essay from our CEO and former senior civil servant @sarahdavidson.bsky.social looks at the steps required to make the UK Government's missions project a success: carnegieuk.org/news/mission...