Speakers: 

Michael Shanks MP, Minister for Energy at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero

Sam Alvis, Associate Director for Environment, Energy Security and Nature at IPPR

Sam Peacock, Managing Director for Corporate Affairs, Regulation and Strategy at SSE

Dhara Vyas, Chief Executive Officer of Energy UK This event was chaired by Jill Rutter, Senior Fellow at the Institute for Government.

This event was held in partnership with Energy UK and SSE.

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The Liberal Democrat manifesto committed to keeping people out of hospital by investing in public health and early access to community services. Prevention is also central to the government’s plans for improving healthcare. But meaningfully shifting care from treatment to prevention is easier said than done. 

So how could the UK take a prevention-led approach to healthcare?

We discussed at the 2025 Liberal Democrat Party Conference in Bournemouth with an expert panel featuring:

This event was chaired by Nick Davies, Programme Director at the Institute for Government.

This event was held in partnership with Novartis UK.

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The government’s devolution plans are centred on devolving more powers out of Whitehall into the hands of the local leaders, and giving local places control of key policy areas like skills, transport, and housing. But questions remain about how this will work in practice.

At the 2025 Liberal Democrat Party Conference in Bournemouth we explored the key steps that local places need to take to develop an effective economic strategy.

Our speakers included:

This event was chaired by Thomas Pope, Deputy Chief Economist at the Institute for Government.

This event was held in partnership with the University of Surrey.

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President Trump’s return to the White House has reshaped the world trade order – posing risks, but also offering opportunities, for the UK.

What can be done to make the UK become a more attractive destination for foreign investment? How should the UK deal with the US - and approach its relationship with China? How can the government help UK businesses and will its new industrial and trade strategy help secure the UK’s economic future?

We discussed at the Liberal Democrat Conference in Bournemouth with an expert panel, featuring:

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

This event was held in partnership with the City of London Corporation.

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The former deputy prime minister, in his only fringe event at this year’s Liberal Democrat conference, spoke to IfG director Hannah White about Keir Starmer’s Donald Trump strategy, Elon Musk’s interventions in British politics, the AI challenge, and how centre left parties can fight back against the rise of populism.

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With European nations now spending more on defence than America for the first time since the Second World War, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin explored how the end of the peace dividend is creating new dilemmas for the political class and what this means for the Whitehall machine.

In his first speech since stepping down as head of the armed forces, Admiral Sir Tony, who served four successive prime ministers, reflected on the advent of a third nuclear age, the race to artificial super intelligence and the requirement for grand national strategy to meet the demands of a new more dangerous era.

Following his speech, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin was in conversation with Dr Hannah White, Director and CEO of the Institute for Government.

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The industrial strategy has emerged after a long gestation, with June’s white paper containing an exhaustive list of policy commitments intended to deliver Labour’s promise to “lay the foundation for a decade of growth”, create hundreds of thousands of clean energy jobs, ensure that every region thrives, and put Britain “at the forefront of the technological revolution”.

The strategy identifies 37 different ‘Frontier Industries’ within the eight growth sectors already set out in the green paper from October 2024, with these sectors treated as enablers of productivity to other parts of the economy – not just as vehicles of growth in themselves. So how can this ambitious idea be delivered successfully? 

What combination of market and regulatory reforms can help to deliver this aim? What will be the role of public sector financial institutions like the National Wealth Fund and British Business Bank? What is the role for private finance? Is the government’s push to encourage more pension fund investment in British industry welcome or risky? And with the industrial strategy containing so many goals, industries and policy instruments, has the government taken on more than it can realistically deliver?  

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

Sam Lister, Director General for Industrial Strategy at the Department for Business and Trade

Paul Nightingale, Professor of Strategy at the University of Sussex

Karen Northey, Corporate Affairs Director at the Investment Association

Giles Wilkes, Senior Fellow at the Institute for Government

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

This event was kindly supported by the Investment Association.

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At this year’s local elections, the Reform Party secured outright majorities in 10 local authorities and won two metro mayor contests.

As its local leaders make the transition from opposition to government, what skills will they need to be successful? What are the trade-offs they will have to make? How should they design and deliver policy? And how should they work with the Labour government in Westminster to deliver for voters locally?

Speakers: 

Dr Hannah White, Director and CEO of the Institute for Government (chair)

Cllr Linden Kemkaran, Leader of Kent County Council & County Councillor for Maidstone Southeast

Akash Paun, Programme Director (Devolution) at the Institute for Government

Gawain Towler, former Head of Press for Reform UK

This event was an IfG fringe event held at the Reform UK Party Conference 2025 in Birmingham.

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The Freedom of Information (FoI) Act – which was passed 25 years ago and came into force five years later – created a legal right for citizens to request information from public authorities. This was a radical shift in the government's approach to information and a significant step towards a more open culture of government.

FoI was designed to generate more transparency and to tackle perceived secrecy in government, and it has been a vital tool for journalists, researchers and private citizens alike. However, some politicians have been critical of the burden that FoI requests create, and there are outstanding questions about how the FoI system can be more effective.

With FoI requests more than tripling since it was introduced in 2005, this IfG event assessed the state of FoI on its double anniversary – and explored, through a series of proposals and an expert panel discussion, how the system can be improved. 

To pitch their proposals for the future of Freedom of Information, the IfG was joined by

And to discuss the proposals and the FoI system more broadly:

The event was chaired by Gavin Freeguard, Associate of the Institute for Government.

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The prime minister has made some big changes in No10. Darren Jones moves from the Treasury to take on the newly-created job of chief secretary to the prime minister. A new executive director of communications has been recruited. Minouche Shafik has been appointed as the PM’s economics adviser. And other eye-catching job changes are taking place.

So what does this all say about how Keir Starmer wants to govern? How will Darren Jones’s role dovetail with chief of staff Morgan McSweeney and Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden? Will these changes really equip the centre of government for a “relentless focus on delivery”? And what Institute for Government recommendations should Starmer now adopt as he weighs up further changes to the centre?

Alex Thomas, Hannah Keenan, Gemma Tetlow and Hannah White explain all in this expert Institute for Briefing.

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