The Covid Inquiry: What does Module II say about government decision making and political governance?
On 20 November 2025, the UK Covid-19 Inquiry will publish its second report. This module focuses on political and administrative decision making during the pandemic, examining how key decisions were made across government, and civil service performance. This report will also include perspectives from Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
In a rapid reaction webinar the following day, our expert IfG panel unpacked the report’s findings and explored their implications for future governance:
Tim Durrant, Programme Director for the IfG Ministers work programme
Stuart Hoddinott, Associate Director at the IfG
Akash Paun, Programme Director for the IfG Devolution work programme
Alex Thomas, Programme Director for the IfG Civil Service work programme
The webinar was chaired by Dr Hannah White, Director and CEO of the Institute for Government.
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The UK-EU ‘reset': Six months on
At May’s UK-EU summit, Keir Starmer and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen unveiled a new Common Understanding between the EU and the UK.
The government hailed a new “deal” with the EU which included an agreement on fisheries and a joint commitment to negotiate a ‘youth experience scheme’, as well as new arrangements for agriculture, emissions trading, energy cooperation and defence. Many of these changes will involve the UK accepting dynamic alignment, with its potential role in “decision-shaping” to be defined.
Six months on, how much progress has been made? Have new stumbling blocks emerged? And now the government has started to highlight the economic consequences of Brexit, will it start to seek an even closer relationship?
To explore these questions and more, we were joined by our expert panel:
Baroness Ashton, former High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and member of House of Lords and European Affairs Committee
Professor Anand Menon, Director of UK in a Changing Europe
Calum Miller MP, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson (Foreign Affairs)
Sir Ivan Rogers, former UK Permanent Representative to the EU
The event was chaired by Jill Rutter, Senior Fellow at the Institute for Government.
We would like to thank UK in a Changing Europe for kindly supporting this event.
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How successfully have Labour run public services?
Poor public service performance was a key reason for Labour’s victory in the 2024 election. Following the new government’s first multi-year spending review and a major reshuffle, this event brough together a panel of experts to discuss how successfully Labour has managed public services since coming to office.
This event brought together a panel of experts to discuss these key questions:
What was Labour’s public service inheritance?
How much progress has the government made on public services since the election?
What impact with the spending review have on public service performance?
What are the biggest public service challenges that need to be addressed over the rest of the parliament?
What are the implications for the budget?
As the Institute for Government published the latest edition of Performance Tracker, written in partnership with the Nuffield Foundation, which featured new analysis on the performance of public services, Amber Dellar, Stuart Hoddinott and Cassia Rowland, presented the key findings. They were joined by Stephen Bush, associate editor and columnist at the Financial Times.
This event was chaired by Nick Davies, Programme Director at the Institute for Government, with an introduction by Mark Franks at the Nuffield Foundation.
This event was kindly supported by the Nuffield Foundation.
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How should the government successfully implement and enhance devolution across the North of England?
This event was part of the IfG's Labour Party Conference programme.
Speakers:
Katherine Fairclough, Chief Executive of Liverpool City Region Combined Authority
Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe, Leader of Council & Corporate Portfolio Holder at City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council
Sue Jarvis, Co-Director at Heseltine Institute for Public Policy, Practice and Place
Dr Henry Kippin, Chief Executive of North East Combined Authority
This event was chaired by Akash Paun, Programme Director at the Institute for Government.
This event was held in partnership with the Heseltine Institute for Public Policy, Practice and Place at the University of Liverpool and Liverpool City Region Combined Authority.
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How can the government deliver its “prevention first” approach to healthcare?
This event was part of the IfG's Labour Party Conference programme.
Speakers:
Dr Jo Bibby, Director of Health at Health Foundation
Stuart Hoddinott, Associate Director at the Institute for Government
Nick Meade, Chief Executive of Genetic Alliance UK
Rob Thomas, Head of Public Affairs, UK and Ireland at Novartis Pharmaceuticals UK
This event was chaired by Nick Davies, Programme Director at the Institute for Government.
This event was held in partnership with Novartis Pharmaceuticals UK.
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The Labour government has a huge majority in parliament – but Keir Starmer’s administration is also facing an incredibly complex set of policy challenges. So how can the prime minister and his team turn around public service performance? What can chancellor Rachel Reeves do to get the economy growing again? What will mission-driven government actually mean in practice? Who should be making the key decisions in Westminster – and beyond? And what will the appointment of a new cabinet secretary mean for the future direction of the civil service?
From reforming how the centre of government works to the battle for the future of the civil service, from making a success of levelling up to achieve net zero goals, IfG EVENTS stimulate fresh thinking and share ideas about how government works – and how it could work better.
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