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Second Edition
Issue Two of Heywood Quarterly – Ideas for the New Government – covers a range of topics, from the importance of policy making for the long-term, innovation in Whitehall, and the art of crisis management, to the future of English devolution, the benefits of mutualisation as a form of ownership, and the role of financial watchdogs. Read the individual articles here or click on the PDF to access the full edition
Editor’s Letter
Editor’s Letter Since the Heywood Quarterly launched in June 2024, the pace of political change across the western world has been frenetic. This year has been the largest democratic exercise in world history, with four billion citizens making their voices heard. Voters in both the United...
In conversation with… Lord (Terry) Burns
In this summary of an extensive discussion in the autumn, Peter McDonald talks to the former Permanent Secretary to the Treasury about responding to crises, working with Ministers, solving problems and other reflections from a multifaceted career Terry Burns was only just on time for our...
The Risks of Accountability Sinks
Donald Marshall reviews The Unaccountability Machine: Why Big Machines Make Terrible Decisions, and How the World Lost its Mind by Dan Davies Dan Davies’ book opens with a memorable, and horrifying, story. In 1999 a shipment of 440 squirrels arrived at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport...
Now is the Time to Think Ahead
James Ancell, Head of Futures and Foresight, Joint Data and Analysis Centre, offers practical steps for civil servants to focus more on the longer term My partner and I are planning a wedding. Being an analyst, I began with a spreadsheet of costs, possible venues, potential guests (colour...
The Truth about SpAds
Peter Cardwell reviews Tales Of The Unelected by Dan Corry Most senior officials in Whitehall and beyond have some understanding of what special advisers (SpAds) actually do – but more junior civil servants often see them as a remote or alien species. Myths develop about these...
How to Make English Devolution Work
Understanding the Greater Manchester model will help Whitehall deliver its priorities, says John Wrathmell Among the first guests invited by the new Prime Minister to Downing Street after the July general election were England’s regional Mayors. Sir Keir Starmer told them he wanted to “put more...
Let’s make mutualisation the new ‘third way’
Sharon White, until recently chairman of the John Lewis Partnership, says imaginative ownership models can improve our public services Poll after poll shows that what the public most want from their politicians is public services that work. Local schools offering outstanding education. A GP...
Has the OBR experiment been worthwhile?
Robert Chote, its first full time Chairman, explains how the UK’s Budget watchdog came about, and examines some of the critiques it has faced When applications were invited to chair the Office for Budget Responsibility in the summer of 2010, I consulted two distinguished former Treasury officials....
First Edition
How do we encourage innovation in the Public Sector? The introductory issue of Heywood Quarterly, featuring a welcome from Cabinet Secretary Simon Case, includes articles on the top traits of a great civil servant, the future of the policy profession, the importance of AI in government and A Day in the Life of Britain’s Ambassador to Qatar.
Making a Difference to Country and Community
Simon Case, Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service, on what it means to serve I am sure the idea of service, and what it means to serve, resonates with many of my colleagues in the Civil Service. I can think of two instances where this was recently brought into the public consciousness....
The Ten Traits of a Great Civil Servant
Suzanne Heywood on the qualities valued by her late husband Jeremy, Cabinet Secretary from 2012 to 2018. In late August 2018, Jeremy, Jonny (our eldest son) and I drove down to Whitstable for a long weekend. It was to be our last holiday together – something we suspected at the time but were far...
Changing Government One Datastream at a Time
Laura Gilbert, Director of Data Science at 10 Downing Street, reflects on her AI and data science teams’ challenges and achievements I joined the UK government in September 2020, six months into Covid. For nearly a decade, I’d been running a tech startup building health apps as one of the two...
UK Election Series
Heywood Quarterly’s Election series looks at how civil servants should prepare for a new government. It includes Transition Tips from a former Cabinet Secretary, and articles on the danger of digital interference in the deomcratic process, the challenge of maintaining voter confidence and how the late Queen avoided a constitutional ‘pickle’.
Heywood Quarterly Election Series: Editor’s Introduction
Listen to this article (AI generated audio) Like most people, the Heywood Quarterly team was taken by surprise last month when the UK Prime Minister called a general election for 4th July. The unexpected, however, can present opportunities - so we approached four distinguished public servants who...
Transition Tips from a Seasoned Cabinet Secretary
Gus O’Donnell on some key issues likely to face Civil Servants before and after July 4th Listen to this article (AI generated audio) Civil Servants are working frantically to prepare for all possible outcomes of the General Election on 4th July. Here are some reflections based on my experience of...
The Mysteries of the Golden Triangle
Edward Young, the Sovereign’s Principal Private Secretary from 2017 to 2023, describes the Monarch’s role in a general election…and how advisers resolved a constitutional ‘pickle’ in 2015 Listen to this article (AI generated audio) Midway through the General Election of May 2015, in the Georgian...
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