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Working to make government more effective

Dr Alice Lilly

Senior Researcher

Alice is a senior researcher. As part of the IfG Academy team, which helps those in government to be effective and those outside it to understand it better, she delivers workshops for academics and others seeking to better work with government.

Alice also runs much of the Institute’s day-to-day work on the UK Parliament and is a regular expert commentator on parliamentary procedure and practice on radio and television.

Prior to joining the Institute, she began her career in academia, writing a PhD on the history of anti-poverty policy in the US and UK in the 1990s.

23 JUL 2026 Comment

Fixing relations with MPs will require more than warm words from Andy Burnham

10 JUL 2026 Insight paper

Reflecting on Keir Starmer’s premiership

29 MAY 2026 Explainer

Joining and leaving the House of Lords

02 MAR 2022 Report

A new statutory role for the civil service

The civil service needs a new statutory role to reflect its permanence, purpose, values and how it should be run and held to account.

14 FEB 2022 Comment

Johnson’s new chief whip has work cut out to tame a party with a taste for rebellion

The prime minister’s mini-reshuffle may be too little, too late to meaningfully improve Johnson’s relationship with his own backbenches

31 JAN 2022 Analysis paper

Whitehall Monitor 2022

Major reform is needed for government to respond to crises like the pandemic while simultaneously delivering long-term policy goals.

06 SEP 2021 Analysis paper

Parliamentary Monitor 2021

The government must drop its dismissive approach to scrutiny as parliament returns to in-person sittings.

10 MAY 2021 Report

Taking stock of the Conservative manifesto

The government is yet to deliver around half of its 2019 manifesto promises – and many of those it has made progress on are the ‘easy wins’.

27 JAN 2021 Comment

Three ways that the coronavirus crisis has changed government

The new Whitehall Monitor 2021 report sets out the immediate impact of the pandemic across government, writes Alice Lilly

21 JAN 2021 Analysis paper

Whitehall Monitor 2021

Whitehall Monitor 2021 reveals the way the pandemic has changed how the government takes decisions, spends money and makes policy.

31 DEC 2020 Comment

The Brexit deal is the latest case of the government’s disregard for parliamentary scrutiny

The compressed scrutiny of the Brexit deal is the latest example of the government's dismissive approach of parliament

01 DEC 2020 Interview

Amber Rudd

Amber Rudd reflects on her time working with three different prime ministers, the implications of the EU referendum and resigning as home secretary.

23 SEP 2020 Report

Whitehall Monitor: The cost of Covid-19

Covid-19 is already likely to cost the UK government £317bn – in increased public borrowing – in 2020/21 alone.