Working to make government more effective

Working to make government more effective

Nicola Hughes

Associate

Nicola was a Research Manager at the Institute, responsible for the Institute’s ‘Leadership for Government’ programmes, supporting ministers and special advisers to be more effective in their roles, and for ‘Ministers Reflect’– a unique archive of interviews with former ministers. Nicola previously led ‘Connecting Policy with Practice’, which brought together government policy makers with voluntary sector practitioners, and managed the Institute’s pre-election work ‘A Programme for Effective Government’.

Prior to joining the Institute, Nicola was Senior Policy Officer at Shelter, the housing and homelessness charity. She has also worked at the think tank Demos and in government at Acas, DWP and LB Tower Hamlets.

All work

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06 NOV 2025 Interview

Theresa Villiers

Theresa Villers reflects on her time in government for the Institute for Government’s Ministers Reflect project.

18 JAN 2018 Interview

David Jones

David Jones reflects on his year as a minister in the new Department for Exiting the EU and also his time at the Welsh Office.

24 APR 2017 Interview

Baroness Warsi

Baroness Warsi looks back on her time in the Coalition Government, starting with figuring out what exactly was a Minister without Portfolio.

28 FEB 2017 Report

How to be an effective minister

As ministers grapple with the huge challenges of Brexit and the domestic policy agenda, this report looks at how they can be effective in their jobs.

26 JAN 2017 Interview

Lord Freud

Lord Freud was interviewed on 26 January 2017 for the Institute for Government’s Ministers Reflect project.

17 JAN 2017 Interview

Lord O’Neill

Lord O'Neill reflects on his time in government for the Institute for Government’s Ministers Reflect project.