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	<title>Blog &#187; Zoe Gruhn</title>
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	<link>http://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/blog</link>
	<description>Institute for Government Blog</description>
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		<title>A spad for all seasons: the reality for special advisers</title>
		<link>http://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/blog/4406/a-spad-for-all-seasons-the-reality-for-special-advisers/?source=rss</link>
		<comments>http://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/blog/4406/a-spad-for-all-seasons-the-reality-for-special-advisers/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 02 May 2012 08:35:44 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Zoe Gruhn</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[A more effective Whitehall]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/blog/?p=4406</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Special advisers are subject to their own strict code of conduct and the ministerial code states clearly that ministers are responsible for the management and conduct of their spads and are also ‘accountable to the Prime Minister, Parliament and the public for their actions and decisions in respect of their special advisers.’ The lines of responsibility appear to be clear and should ensure that any problems can be dealt with quickly and effectively. But is this the case? If it was all so straightforward, surely the current row about special adviser accountability would not be taking place? David Cameron argued on the recent Andrew Marr programme that a secretary of state should not automatically resign because of the mistakes of the special adviser. It is easy, though, amid all this noise, to lose sight of the fact that spads are now a very useful and necessary part of government and are here to stay. They can bridge the gap between ministers and the Civil Service and provide a political touchstone for the Civil Service. They can go to places where a non-political civil servant cannot. However this does not mean that the current system works perfectly. Research at the Institute [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/blog/4406/a-spad-for-all-seasons-the-reality-for-special-advisers/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>You don&#8217;t need to be a professional to be an MP</title>
		<link>http://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/blog/3628/you-don%e2%80%99t-need-to-be-a-professional-to-be-an-mp/?source=rss</link>
		<comments>http://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/blog/3628/you-don%e2%80%99t-need-to-be-a-professional-to-be-an-mp/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 06 Oct 2011 15:40:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Zoe Gruhn</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Parliament and the political process]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[candidate selection]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/blog/?p=3628</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The Conservatives were the first party in the UK to use primary elections to select parliamentary candidates. At the fringe event it was surprising to note the lack of controversy surrounding primaries, particularly compared to the debate in both the Liberal Democrat and Labour parties about whether they should be introduced. Indeed, Andrew Adonis remarked that at the Labour and Liberal Democrat fringe events the idea of primaries received a mixed reaction, largely because both party leaders and members feared this could result in them losing control over the candidate selection process and the candidates themselves. The biggest problem however remains the cost; with postal primaries costing £40,000 per constituency no party currently has the finances to bankroll their use nationwide. Unless they are publicly funded, as the Coalition Government pledged to do but subsequently backed away from, primaries are unlikely to become a mainstay in UK politics. As well as the financial costs of primaries to the parties another issue was raised which affects all candidates whatever the selection process; the extraordinarily large financial cost to individuals of trying to win a seat in Parliament, which the Institute has highlighted in the report on Candidate Selection. As Iain Dale [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/blog/3628/you-don%e2%80%99t-need-to-be-a-professional-to-be-an-mp/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Who leads what?</title>
		<link>http://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/blog/3318/who-leads-what/?source=rss</link>
		<comments>http://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/blog/3318/who-leads-what/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 21 Aug 2011 22:16:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Zoe Gruhn</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Leadership for government]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[crisis management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Leadership]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ministerial effectiveness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[No 10]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/blog/?p=3318</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This is not so much whether the riots and their aftermath have been the biggest test the Prime Minister has faced since coming to office, which seems to be the view of most commentators, but rather what kind of leadership is required to deal with such events. This has achieved greater prominence following the decision by the police’s leadership to question the impact and role of politicians. This intervention has, if anything, muddied the waters by confusing the types of leadership which necessarily have to come into play. For the police, their role primarily is to provide operational leadership i.e. to be seen to be in charge of the strategic overview and detail down to very local levels of the response on the ground to threats to security, life and property. This is not the job of politicians, they would not have the skills to do it and the public would not expect it of them. So what is the role of politicians in such situations, assuming it is not an ‘irrelevance’? People expect politicians to show leadership and this is a core reason why they are voted into office. But it is a particular type of leadership. It is [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>Who is fit and proper?</title>
		<link>http://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/blog/3098/who-is-fit-and-proper/?source=rss</link>
		<comments>http://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/blog/3098/who-is-fit-and-proper/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 14 Jul 2011 09:56:16 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Zoe Gruhn</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Leadership for government]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cabinet Secretary]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Political leaders]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Transparency]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/blog/?p=3098</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The headline grabber inevitably centres around the Prime Minister’s judgement. There are however other important issues which this has highlighted. These are about the processes for senior ‘political’ appointments which come within the purview of Prime Ministers but which involve people who work at the heart of government. The current system is pretty opaque. Even though some of these appointees may operate as quasi civil servants, can the civil service influence such senior appointments up to and including the power of veto? It appears not. Certainly the Civil Service Commissioners, although they are involved in the appointment of senior public figures, do not have a locus in this area. Positive vetting cannot, of itself, prevent appointments and is more likely to focus on personal behavioural matters such as sex and drugs than, say, someone’s business background. And does the Cabinet Secretary have a role? At this point the mists descend but the likelihood is that, whatever reservations he might have, ultimately, if a Prime Minister decides to run with an appointment, he gets his way. Not the first time Is this sustainable? This is not the first time questions over the behaviour of political appointees have been raised. More recently [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>From attack dogs to ministers</title>
		<link>http://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/blog/3000/from-attack-dogs-to-ministers/?source=rss</link>
		<comments>http://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/blog/3000/from-attack-dogs-to-ministers/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 07 Jul 2011 17:26:49 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Zoe Gruhn</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Leadership for government]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Shadow Cabinet]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Transparency]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/blog/?p=3000</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Ed Miliband must have breathed a sigh of relief when the Parliamentary Labour Party endorsed his plans to end elections to the Shadow Cabinet even though he still has to get them through the party conference in the autumn. Having personal control as Leader over the composition of the shadow team would strike most people as common sense and a strengthening of the leader’s authority. This should certainly be the case but there are still challenges. Though  Miliband may not choose to reshuffle his team now, the onus will  be on him to ensure he thinks carefully about the challenges of building his team in the years to come. Open to scrutiny At least when others chose your team for you, you cannot be accused of favouritism. Now that it’s up to you, every appointment will be scrutinised for signs of what this means for the likely policy direction of the party and whether particular factions, and people, are in the ascendancy or decline. That is the stuff of politics and why choosing a Shadow Cabinet bears little resemblance to choosing a management team in, for example, a private sector company. There are, however, some factors which Ed Miliband might like to [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/blog/3000/from-attack-dogs-to-ministers/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>A tale of two Huttons</title>
		<link>http://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/blog/2239/a-tale-of-two-huttons/?source=rss</link>
		<comments>http://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/blog/2239/a-tale-of-two-huttons/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 24 Mar 2011 16:57:19 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Zoe Gruhn</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[A more effective Whitehall]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Leadership for government]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/blog/?p=2239</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8220;Overpaid public sector workers ripping off the taxpayer with gold plated pensions&#8221;. This is the stuff of tabloid headlines but also reflects a perception within government and beyond that the way in which public servants are rewarded cannot continue as before. Hence the two Hutton reviews. First came Lord Hutton’s review into public sector pensions whose recommendations included replacing the existing final salary scheme with a career average scheme and linking the normal pension age for public sector workers to the state pension age. This was also presented as good deal for the taxpayer through making public sector workers work longer and the government establishing a fixed cost for employers’ contributions to public sector pension schemes. More recently Will Hutton has reported on fair pay in the public sector arguing that fair pay must be proportional to each individual’s contribution and set according to a fair process and is essential to high quality, well managed public services. His recommendations included the publication of annual Fair Pay Reports setting out trends in pay multiples across public services and preventing rewards for failure through senior executives having an element of their basic pay that needs to be earned back each year through [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/blog/2239/a-tale-of-two-huttons/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Shifting the blame</title>
		<link>http://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/blog/2136/shifting-the-blame/?source=rss</link>
		<comments>http://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/blog/2136/shifting-the-blame/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 08 Mar 2011 16:14:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Zoe Gruhn</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[A more effective Whitehall]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[civil service reform]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Organisational change]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Political leaders]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/blog/?p=2136</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[John Reid had a go when he described the Home Office as &#8220;not fit for purpose&#8221;. Last week the Cabinet Secretary revealed that he had had to write to the Prime Minister asking him to rein in special advisors after personal attacks on a public official. And yesterday the Prime Minister himself was at it with his attacks on the &#8220;enemies of enterprise&#8221; in government departments and local authorities. So far, so much fun. But how much fun is it if you’re a civil servant in BIS, UKTI, the regions or wherever who works your socks off helping to support British business, and in particular SMEs, to succeed at home and abroad? Might you not think that, at a time when there is a threat of job losses some support for and understanding of what you do rather than a public hammering might be more appropriate? The civil service duopoly What this does is crystallise two perennial issues – who provides leadership for the civil service and how do you best motivate and lead people, particularly though times of major change? The civil service is, of course, politically neutral. It works for the government of the day, providing a seamless [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/blog/2136/shifting-the-blame/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
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		<title>Women on Boards &#8211; do they matter?</title>
		<link>http://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/blog/2101/women-on-boards-%e2%80%93-do-they-matter/?source=rss</link>
		<comments>http://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/blog/2101/women-on-boards-%e2%80%93-do-they-matter/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 03 Mar 2011 18:23:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Zoe Gruhn</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Leadership for government]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Departmental boards]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/blog/?p=2101</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[On the FTSE 100 only 15.6% of non-executive directors (NEDs) are women, a figure that has effectively not shifted over the last five years. Davies, whilst stopping short of suggesting quotas for board appointments, does recommend potentially far reaching solutions to alter the balance and get far more women and the talent and experience they will bring on to boards. These include: significantly greater transparency in board appointments FTSE 350 chairs to set targets for changing the balance of board composition board members to be drawn from a wider range of backgrounds. Backed up by proposed changes to the Corporate Governance Code, the onus will very much be on board chairs to deliver. What does this mean for new look Whitehall boards? Arguably, not a lot. Currently 44% of NEDs, including Lead NEDs, on Whitehall boards are women. The government could therefore claim with some justification that it has put its money where its mouth is. Having commissioned Mervyn Davies to look at how to take forward the pledge in the coalition agreement to promote gender equality on the boards of listed companies, it acted promptly to ensure that the composition of Whitehall boards was appropriately diverse. The challenge however [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/blog/2101/women-on-boards-%e2%80%93-do-they-matter/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
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		<title>Public Accounts Committee: from bear pit to forensic forum</title>
		<link>http://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/blog/1708/public-accounts-committee-from-bear-pit-to-forensic-forum/?source=rss</link>
		<comments>http://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/blog/1708/public-accounts-committee-from-bear-pit-to-forensic-forum/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 24 Jan 2011 17:26:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Zoe Gruhn</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Parliament and the political process]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Accountability]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Select committees]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/blog/?p=1708</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[That is the challenge the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) now faces. Its recently elected chair Margaret Hodge, Institute Senior Fellow Lord Bichard and the House Magazine&#8217;s Political Editor Sam Macrory addressed this at a lively debate at the Institute on 19 January. At the session, Lord Bichard also argued that PAC has under achieved to date with few actual improvements to public finances or organisational performance to its credit, and that the challenge for the new chair is to reverse this trend. PAC&#8217;s new approach It was clear that PAC fully recognises the scale of the task ahead and the need, if it is to have a lasting impact, to change its approach to its inquiries and the questioning of witnesses. This means moving away from the high drama of aggressive interrogation towards more constructive exchanges that will enable the committee to get closer to the truth about what has been happening on public expenditure both within and across departments. It also means taking a longer term view rather than being driven primarily by today’s headlines. PAC will need to look forensically at how well departments have been managed over time and the quality of their policy management (based on a combination [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/blog/1708/public-accounts-committee-from-bear-pit-to-forensic-forum/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>New leadership for new times?</title>
		<link>http://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/blog/1334/new-leadership-for-new-times/?source=rss</link>
		<comments>http://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/blog/1334/new-leadership-for-new-times/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 09 Dec 2010 15:03:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Zoe Gruhn</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Leadership for government]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Political leaders]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/blog/?p=1334</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The days of central command and control are over. The future means a devolved approach to government with network structures and greater use of private and civil society collaborative arrangements. Government departments will have a new role as coordinators, leading the direction of policy. This will be a sea change in the way government operates. It will have major implications for the way the public sector is led and for the type of leader needed to make it work. What will public sector leaders need? There will need to be a new cadre of public sector leaders properly equipped to rise fully to these challenges. At the very least they will need: a premium given to the skills of leading and managing complex organisations – and creating and driving organisational agility the capacity to create a vision of where the public sector is going – shaping the agenda and communicating it with passion, commitment and authenticity. a real understanding of the new social context – which will mean getting hands dirty through frontline experience a genuine readiness to engage with staff – not in a top down, authoritarian way but through being open and responsive sufficient self confidence to implement real [...]]]></description>
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