A summary of recent news and views you might have missed

First woman civil servant gets a blue plaque

In July, a blue plaque was unveiled in honour of Jane ‘Jeanie’ Senior, Britain’s first female civil servant. 

Jeanie became the first female inspector of the education of girls in pauper schools and workhouses in 1873, using her role to advocate for improved welfare, particularly regarding cleanliness and the quality of food. She published an official report on pauper schools in 1874, focusing on the futures of the girls who had left them.

The blue plaque, which was funded by the FDA Union and the Battersea Society, has been erected outside the Battersea Arts Centre, formerly Elm House, where Senior had lived.

Sources:

• Blue Plaque for Britain’s First Female Civil Servant – Martin Stanely, Substack
• FDA attends unveiling of plaque in honour of first female civil servant Jeanie Senior – FDA

Fast Stream internships for working-class students

The Fast Stream Summer Internship Programme (SIP), a two-month programme designed to give participants an opportunity to see what a career in the Civil Service is like, will now be open only to students from working-class and lower socio-economic backgrounds. Since 2023, the scheme had been available to all undergraduates, having before that been open only to those from lower socio-economic backgrounds, ethnic minorities or those with disabilities. 

Data from the Cabinet Office for 2024, analysed by the Institute for Government, showed a success rate of only 1.3% for civil service fast stream applicants from “Low SEB” (socio-economic background). This is in contrast to the 2.2% success rate for all applicants, and 2.7% success rate for those from “Higher SEB.” A press release from the Cabinet Office stated that, along with a new apprenticeship scheme for school leavers, this change will help to increase diversity and representation in the Civil Service.

SIP Participants who receive a positive appraisal at the end of the programme are fast-tracked through the initial stages of the Fast Stream application process, should they choose to apply. 

Sources:

• Internship Scheme To Get More Working Class Students Into Civil Service – GOV.UK
• Civil service fast stream (Explainer) – Institute for Government

Re:State publish the Alternative People Survey

In July, think tank Re:State published the findings of their Alternative People Survey, created in partnership with Civil Service World to offer “new insights into how civil servants feel about the culture, capability and performance” of the Civil Service. The survey, which had 1,265 respondents, covered topics including AI usage, talent, performance management, career progression and recruitment. The survey aims to build on the annual Civil Service People Survey conducted by the Cabinet Office.

Whilst respondents were generally positive towards reforms and new technology, such as AI, attitudes towards efficiency and incentives were more negative.

Sources:

• The Alternative People Survey 2025 – Re:State

Tony Blair Institute recommends AI education for students

The Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (TBI) recently released a report calling for enhanced understanding and education about AI in England’s schools. It proposed that AI should have an official presence across the school curriculum from Key Stage 2 to Key Stage 4. All students should be required to complete a Certificate in Applied Computing and those who choose to study computer science at GCSE would learn more about practical applications of AI. Students would learn how best to prompt AI, how to interpret its outputs and potential biases and how to use it effectively.

With other countries such as Estonia and Singapore already building AI into the curriculum, the report reflects fears that England may fall behind. With AI literacy becoming a key requirement for many jobs, TBI argues that we cannot allow this to happen. 

Source:

• Generation Ready: Building the Foundations for AI-Proficient Education in England’s Schools – Tony Blair Institute

A statistical “fog of war”

Public discourse and government policy in the UK risk being guided “more by vibes than by hard evidence”, claims the Financial Times. In an article published in August, the newspaper’s statistics expert John Burn-Murdoch said that 79 different official data series have been either decertified or cancelled outright in the UK since 2010 – with 25 in the past year alone “and with more on the way” – due to concerns over quality and collapsing response rates to surveys. Reliable information on aspects of the labour market, immigration, crime and wealth inequality, he says, is no longer available.   

Burn-Murdoch claims there is “a fog of war” in which external organisations, partisan think tanks and politicians compete to produce their own incomplete and inconclusive statistics.

“Producing high-quality statistics to help us answer the defining questions of the day is not about proving one side right or wrong”, he insists. “It’s about providing the evidence base that is essential for informed policymaking and an educated electorate, in whichever direction that evidence points. In an age of eroding trust and media fragmentation, the ability to cut through the noise with empirical evidence is critical.”

Source:

• Financial Times (ft.com), August 25th 2025

What makes public sector leaders successful?

Public sector leaders manage one-third of the global workforce and around a quarter of global GDP – but what makes them successful? McKinsey research published earlier this year, drawing on a global survey of over 750 senior leaders and interviews with over 60 current and former secretaries and public sector CEOs, found the political and operating context of public leaders is far more complex and challenging than that of their private sector counterparts. 

A large majority of respondents said their organisations face significantly tighter budgetary constraints, and most felt challenged by limitations in their ability to attract and retain talent. When asked what characterised the most outstanding leaders they had worked with, the most cited traits were character, values, and integrity. These set the foundation for two other essential traits – clarity of purpose and the ability to deliver results despite ambiguity and change. 

Several noted that when senior leaders join government from the private sector, they are often shocked at how little ‘linear accountability’ there is. On top of this, public sector leaders face a level of external scrutiny that is unmatched in other sectors, as well as significant limits on their ability to influence and direct resourcing. They must also grapple with asymmetric incentives and risk tolerances. 

Source:

• Honing leadership excellence in the public sector – McKinsey & Company

Heywood Quarterly Updates

New thinking on themes previously explored in this publication

Why the Policy Profession must embrace AI by Michael Padfield

Michael Padfield’s article in our third edition focused on the benefits of AI usage in the Civil Service, more specifically the policy sector. 

Consult, one of the tools in the Humphrey suite which summarises key themes from consultation responses, has since been evaluated as part of Nesta’s Centre for Collective Intelligence Design and judged positively overall by the 144 members of the public who were polled. Whilst some reservations were still held, a majority of people agreed that it would be a useful tool when paired with human oversight.

While Humphrey AI is still in early stages, recent data from Re:State’s Alternative People Survey shows that 30% of civil servants are using AI tools in their work, and that 78% of that group believed it helped them to do their jobs better.

Sources:

• Why the Policy Profession must embrace AI – Michael Padfield, Heywood Quarterly
• The Alternative People Survey 2025 – Re:State
• Public sees value in Consult AI tool, says Nesta – Mark Say, UKAuthority

The art of horizontal government by Victor Dominello

In our fourth edition, Victor Dominello explained the importance of digital transformation to reimagine the citizen experience and cut red tape. As the former New South Wales Minister for Customer Service and CEO of the Future Government Institute, Dominello drew upon his own experience with the NSW model and the Service NSW app to make recommendations for how the UK could create a “horizontal government”. 

Enter the GOV.UK app. Currently in a beta – testing – version, the app’s objective is to give citizens time back by making their “interactions with government more personalised and proactive.” This includes bookmarking relevant topics and government webpages, finding local services and browsing GOV.UK content. Future updates promise an AI chatbot for quick answers to niche questions, reminders about passport renewals and eventual integration of the GOV.UK Wallet – a similar concept to NSW’s Digital Driver Licence.

Sources:

• The art of horizontal government – Victor Dominello, Heywood Quarterly
• Public services put in your pocket with trial GOV.UK App launched today – GOV.UK 

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If you see something that you think should make the Round Up in our next edition, email submissions@heywoodquarterly.com.