The Institute for Government was delighted to welcome Matthew Vickerstaff, Interim Chief Executive of the Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) and Head of the Government Project Delivery Function, to deliver a keynote speech.

The IPA is the government’s centre of expertise for infrastructure and major projects. The IPA supports the delivery of all types of major projects ranging from railways, schools, hospitals and housing, to defence, IT and major transformation programmes. This speech was an opportunity to reflect on the IPA’s work to improve government’s ability to deliver its priorities, and the future of government project delivery after Brexit.

This event was chaired by Dr Gemma Tetlow, IfG Chief Economist. There was an opportunity for audience questions.

This event forms part of a series sponsored by Oracle – for more information on their work with the public sector click here.

The Institute for Government was delighted to welcome Sir Amyas Morse, Comptroller and Auditor General of the National Audit Office, to present his unique and independent perspective on the enduring challenges facing government and the public sector.

He was in conversation with Bronwen Maddox, Director of the Institute for Government and there was an opportunity for audience Q&A.

This year marks the last of a 10-year tenure at the NAO for Sir Amyas Morse. During the last decade as C&AG, Sir Amyas Morse has commented on how government has been spending public money whilst tackling some of the biggest challenges facing our country, from extended austerity measures following the financial crash, to preparations for Brexit. Prior to the NAO, Sir Amyas Morse was an executive partner of Coopers and Lybrand UK and was a global managing partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The Institute for Government was pleased to welcome Sir Ivan Rogers, former UK Permanent Representative to the EU, to discuss how the UK should deal with the EU after Brexit.

The UK wants an ambitious future arrangement covering trade, cooperation in foreign and security policy, data exchange and more. But negotiations on the future relationship will be much more complex than those on the withdrawal – and will take place under even greater time pressure.

Sir Ivan explored how the UK Government needs to prepare for those negotiations, and how it needs to rethink its long-term relationship with EU member states and institutions.

He was in conversation with Jill Rutter, Programme Director at the Institute for Government. There was an opportunity for questions from the audience.

Sir Ivan Rogers was UK Permanent Representative to the EU from 2013-2017. He has previously served as the Prime Minister’s Advisor on European and Global Issues and Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister, as well as working in the City.

The Institute for Government was delighted to welcome Jamie Susskind to discuss his new book Future Politics: Living together in a World Transformed by Tech.

In his book, he argues that those who control digital technology – mainly technology firms and the state – will increasingly use data to control our lives. He suggests that the government must take advantage of the digital age to strengthen democracy.

In conversation with Gavin Freeguard, Programme Director and Head of Data and Transparency, at the Institute for Government, they discussed what these issues mean for policymakers.

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The Institute for Government was delighted to welcome the UK’s Information Commissioner, Elizabeth Denham CBE, to speak in conversation with Gavin Freeguard, Programme Director and Head of Data and Transparency at the Institute for Government.

From Facebook and Cambridge Analytica, to private companies providing public services: data protection and information rights are at the heart of many of today’s biggest stories.

Elizabeth Denham explored what the future holds for personal data in the UK, how citizens and consumers can be protected, and discussed her recent report Outsourcing Oversight? The case for reforming access to information law.

Elizabeth Denham CBE has been Information Commissioner since July 2016 and in that role upholds both access to information and data protection rights.

Engaging the public on infrastructure decisions helps ensure projects meet the needs of local communities, builds public trust and makes successful delivery more likely. Getting it wrong can result in costly delays to much-needed infrastructure – whether transport, energy or digital projects.

But by international standards, the UK is poor at engaging with the public and local communities on major infrastructure projects. Efforts to improve infrastructure decision making have focused on streamlining processes and avoiding public challenge, rather than engaging citizens in constructive dialogue.

This event looked at how public engagement can be done differently. Drawing on examples from overseas and innovation in other sectors in the UK, the discussion explored how the Government can improve the way it involves the public in decisions on infrastructure.

Our panel included:

Philip Graham, Chief Executive of the National Infrastructure Commission

Sir Andrew Dillon, Chief Executive of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence

Stella Creasy, MP for Walthamstow and former Deputy Director of Involve

Ben Page, Chief Executive of Ipsos Mori.

The conversation was chaired by Emma Norris, Director of Research at the Institute for Government. This was followed by a Q&A session with the audience.

We would like to thank the Association for Project Management for supporting this event.

The Institute for Government (IfG) and Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) hosted a briefing on the issues for government in the upcoming Spring Statement and this year’s Spending Review.

After nine years of austerity, the Spending Review could be among the most important non-Brexit decisions made during this parliament.

We looked at the squeeze on public spending since 2010, the consequences of sticking with the 2018 Autumn Budget indicative spending plans, and assessed the options open to the Chancellor.

Carl Emmerson, Deputy Director of the IFS, and Gemma Tetlow, Chief Economist at the IfG, discussed:

How the spending plan set out in the Autumn 2018 Budget affects departmental budgets

How any deviation from the spending plan affects government’s fiscal targets

What the £20 billion announced for the NHS means for other areas of spending

How different departments are coping with spending cuts

How fiscal policy might adjust in response to an economically bad Brexit

What the Government needs to do in the Spring Statement and Spending Review to produce a set of spending plans that are consistent with its aspirations for public services.

This event was chaired by Bronwen Maddox, Director, Institute for Government.

Many of the conventions and procedures of Parliament have been stretched, altered or – some might argue – broken by Brexit. But will any of the new parliamentary precedents set during the Brexit process persist? And should they?

To discuss, our panel included:

Rt Hon Mark Harper MP, Member for Forest of Dean

Nikki da Costa, Cicero Senior Counsel, former Director of Legislative Affairs at No.10

Professor Meg Russell, Director of the Constitution Unit at UCL

Dr. Jack Simson Caird, Senior Research Fellow, Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law, former House of Commons Library

Chaired by Dr Hannah White, Deputy Director of the Institute for Government.

The Institute for Government was delighted to welcome Angela Knight CBE, Chair of the Office of Tax Simplification.

She was in conversation with Dr Gemma Tetlow, Chief Economist at the Institute for Government, discussing what has been achieved since the Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) was established in 2010, with a mission to reduce tax compliance burdens.

With a majority of businesses reporting that tax compliance costs have risen, rather than fallen, we asked what more could be achieved, does the Office of Tax Simplification need more teeth to do that and should a democracy give that sort of power to a quango?

Angela Knight is Chair of the Office of Tax Simplification and standing down after three years in the role. She is a former MP for Erewash (1992-1997) and during that time a Treasury Minister.

Brexit will put the UK in control of its agricultural policy for the first time in decades. It presents a once in a generation opportunity to revisit the UK’s approach to farm support, methods of production, and food and environmental standards – including their interplay with international trading objectives.

The Government’s Agriculture Bill gives an early indication of the possible direction of travel, but a lot remains unclear.

Minette Batters, President of the National Farmers Union (NFU), set out her views on the way forward.

To discuss what those might mean, we were joined by:

Dame Glenys Stacey, HM Chief Inspector of Probation and Chair of the Farm Inspection and Regulation Review, established by Michael Gove

Mike Clarke, Chief Executive of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB)

The conversation was chaired by Jill Rutter, Programme Director at the Institute for Government, and was followed by an audience Q&A.