Suzannah Brecknell

Art, railways and the unexpected creativity of the civil service: in conversation with Sherin Aminossehe

Can a civil service career be creative? Loved interviewing Sherin Aminossehe for the latest @civilserviceworld.bsky.social podcast - we discuss her new book, swapping the private sector for the MoD, and the endless possibilities of working with public sector spaces open.spotify.com/episode/0WAC...

Another thing a government could do is increase the number of low-traffic zones so that kids can play outside and build more playgrounds with stuff that's fun to do for kids aged 10 and above, open swimming pools. Like actually nice things that will make people's lives better.

Strong agree - arranging ways to keep my younger children busy and safe in the summer while I work is an (admittedly expensive) breeze compared to my 13yo

All set for our final webinar before the summer - with @jo3hill.bsky.social and @gracewyld.bsky.social looking back on a year of Labour administration and discussing the impact of mission-based government on the civil service. You can watch us here: m.youtube.com/watch?v=oXtQ...

There was a 2nd really positive announcement regarding Total Place in the 10 Year Health Plan
- Increased autonomy ✅
- Pooling budgets ✅
- Shifting spending towards prevention ✅

Hopefully the 1st step of a wider public service shift to prevention:
www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publication/...

Intrigued by this in newly-published OECD research around how public in different countries perceive societal risks. Suggests the UK public are more open to migration than the OECD average, more keen on UBI, but less keen on investing in skills
Full report: www.oecd.org/en/publicati...

Problems with the structure/support for Starmer in No.10 clearly remain, does it all stem to them not knowing or caring enough about what that structure should or could look like? He assumed the support he had as DPP or LOTO would just scale up?

There’s a fascinating category error in this quote: Campbell was a director of communications. McSweeney is a campaigns guy who’s become chief of staff.

Those are three very different roles! That they’re being elided by the speaker (and Number 10) is, arguably, a large part of the problem.

There are several other things we expected to be published with or before the SR such as the NHS 10-year plan or the industrial strategy. It was a big ask to line up these direction-setting documents before the SR, but their absence gives a sense that govt is still lacking real vision in many areas

Civil service strategic workforce plan delay 'disappointing' – union chief Civil servants left 'with more questions than answers' as to how Spending Review cuts are to be implemented, FDA head says

Also absent is the civil service workforce strategy - which was due to be published with the SR but is now due "later this year" - characterised by @fdagensec.bsky.social as a disappointing delay (www.civilserviceworld.com/professions/...)

Some quick reactions to the Spending Review.
Darren Jones told @instituteforgovernment.org.uk in March that mission boards were making s)ubmissions which would be negotiated alongside departmental settlements. I can't see any sign of those today.

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If you don't already get the @civilserviceworld.bsky.social newsletter you missed an excellent line up this afternoon- we ferreted through the SR documents to find the bits which matter for civil servants. Subscribe now and make sure you don't miss our follow-ups over the rest of this week

Reeves has so far used the term "my choice" 17 times in her Spending Review speech, calculates colleague @zoecrowther.bsky.social. It's political framing, contrasting government with Tories / Reform, and seemingly also an attempt at better storytelling — which insiders admit hasn't been good enough

When I was working at HMT, during one fiscal event, someone senior came on the building intercom to ask us to stop watching the statement on our computers, to free up some bandwidth so they could upload the documents. Maybe they still haven’t upgraded to fiber?

Reeves has been talking for over half an hour and almost all her announcements are about new investment spending (where the envelope is quite generous).

There will be fewer good news stories on day-to-day spending where the envelope is much tighter (or this will be a very long speech)

{I would like to be clear I am not anti-AI and welcome our robot overlords etc}
I'm working on a new series profiling innovation in the civil service. I would love to speak with anyone doing something innovative that does NOT involve AI - any suggestions or connections please?

This thread combines two of my favourite things - management advice for officials and out of print books to add to my wonkish collection

'There will be 10 things going wrong. You’ve got time to deal with three a day': Lunch with... Simon Case The former cabinet secretary and head of the civil service on relations between ministers and officials, dealing with public criticism and his most...

The former cabinet secretary and head of the civil service on relations between ministers and officials, dealing with public criticism and his most enjoyable roles
www.civilserviceworld.com/in-depth/art...

Enjoying how the OBR is dealing with its obligation to assume fuel duty rises which have not materialised in over a decade (See also the memo they now include, mentioned in @sfrost.bsky.social's thread)

Loved joining this discussion - Hannah and Max both have excellent insight, and I start a Pat McFadden fan club...

Fascinating for the FOI implications rather than his use of ChatGPT which seems pretty much what you'd expect a tech minister to do with it. Worth reading in full as @stokel.bsky.social has delved into those FOI implications as well as Kyle's prompts

I'm not sure the announcements on their own speak to a rightward/populist shift. Politicians slamming bureaucracy and quangos is nothing new - this from a 2010 BBC news article www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-poli...

This is v much my reflection too - language on civil servants is more positive than before, but how is this government actually planning to reform the system which inhibits these fantastic officials?

There's a decent case for scrapping NHS England but doing so is a major change programme that will take up substantial ministerial and official time. Hard to see how govt can do this while also making good progress on meeting the 18 week target AND the three shifts ahead of the next election

To support our work on Whitehall reform, we've launched our second Alternative People Survey with @civilserviceworld.bsky.social

If you're a civil servant, we'd love to hear from you! It only takes a few minutes to complete & will help build insight into realities of life in the Civil Service 👇

A recipe introduction which reads: Stuffed Cucumber Rings. in this recipe chunks of cucumber are stuffed with a delicious pate made from aubergines. Aubergines are not for the faint-hearted, but their unique, strong flavour is a taste worth acquiring. be sure to chill the pate well because it firms up in texture when cold.

Tickled by this description of aubergine in a 1980s vegetarian cookbook

Empowering, humble, candid, sweary (!) & v witty opening keynote speech from Baroness Louise at CSW’s inaugural Collaboration Conference #CSWcollab25

Agree. Seems a good day to repost this book review with its reminder that other innovation models are available www.civilserviceworld.com/professions/...

It is a particular irony that government can't even remember and build on the work it has done to improve how it remembers and builds on the work it does.

www.gov.uk/government/p...