IfG Events

The government’s ambitious local government reorganisation (LGR) programme will replace all county and district councils with a single tier of unitary local government. Local authorities have submitted their preferred geographies to central government – but with reportedly 70 submissions across 21 two-tier areas, there is little consensus on the ideal footprints of future unitary authorities.

Government is consulting the public and stakeholders, but ultimately it will fall to ministers to make these decisions – requiring potentially contentious judgements. Some local authorities favour fewer, larger geographies that offer greater efficiencies, others smaller councils that keep decision making closer to local communities. Final decisions will create winners and losers, and some outgoing authorities may resist the outcome.

So how will these decisions shape the success of incoming unitary authorities? What weighting should ministers give to competing LGR criteria? How can ministers balance consistency of decisions with the need to tailor decisions for local areas? How can the government do this transparently?

To answer these questions and more, this IfG event – the first in a new Making a Success of Local Government Reorganisation series – brought together an expert panel, including:

Councillor Kay Mason Billig, Leader of Norfolk County Council

Joanne Brown, Partner, Public Sector Audit at Grant Thornton UK LLP

Dr Matthew Fright, Senior Researcher at the Institute for Government.

Councillor Bella Sankey, Leader of Brighton and Hove City Council (joining remotely)

This event was chaired by Akash Paun, Programme Director at the Institute for Government.

The Institute for Government would like to thank Grant Thornton UK LLP for their support of this event, the first in a series on how to make a success of local government reorganisation (LGR).
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On 13 March 2025, Keir Starmer announced the abolition of NHS England, the arm’s-length body responsible for overseeing, planning, funding and delivering the health service – with its functions to be merged back into the Department of Health and Social Care. Work on the transition is underway but key decisions are still to be made.

What are the risks and opportunities associated with abolishing NHS England? How much progress has been made to date? What can be learnt from previous structural changes to the NHS and other parts of government? How can the government get the reform process right?

To answer these questions and more, this webinar from the IfG and the Nuffield Trust brought together an expert panel featuring:


Mark Dayan, Policy Analyst and Head of Public Affairs at the Nuffield Trust


Stuart Hoddinott, Associate Director at the Institute for Government


Sarah Reed, Senior Fellow at the Nuffield Trust

The webinar was chaired by Nick Davies, Programme Director at the Institute for Government.

This webinar was kindly supported by the Nuffield Trust.
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In 2024, Eluned Morgan MS became the sixth first minister of Wales – and the first woman to hold the role – since the dawn of devolution in 1999. She now leads Welsh Labour into the 2026 Senedd election, which will be held under a new electoral system, and at which Labour faces a double challenge from the rise of Plaid Cymru and Reform.

On 22 January, the Institute for Government was delighted to welcome Eluned Morgan to discuss how devolution to Wales has evolved since 1999, her priorities as First Minister, how the Labour governments in Cardiff and Westminster can cooperate on shared goals, and Welsh Labour’s vision for Wales’s constitutional future.

The first minister was in conversation with Akash Paun, Programme Director of Devolution at the Institute for Government, followed by a Q&A with the live and online audience.
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Following the publication of Whitehall Monitor 2026, the Institute for Government’s annual data-led analysis of the state of the UK civil service, the IfG was delighted to welcome Rt Hon Darren Jones MP, Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister, to set out why he thinks the status quo isn’t working and update on the government’s efforts to renew the state. He announced his plans to shake up Whitehall and hardwire innovation into government so that it can keep pace with a changing world and grasp the opportunities of the future.

The Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister was introduced by Dr Hannah White OBE, Director and CEO of the Institute for Government.
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Trump’s second term has been markedly different from his first and has already brought with it the most radical shift in US foreign policy since the Second World War. 2026 has seen Trump ramping up action and rhetoric on multiple fronts with even greater pressure on UK and European leaders to respond.

What do the next three years hold for relations between the UK, US and EU? Are current tactics and strategies working for the UK and Europe or do leaders need to change course? Will the prime minister finally be forced to choose between Washington and Brussels?

On the first anniversary of Trump’s 2025 inauguration, the Institute for Government and UK In a Changing Europe are delighted to invite you to a panel to discuss these and other questions, with:


Sir Simon Fraser, Chair of Flint Global, Chair of Chatham House and former Permanent Under-Secretary, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 2010-15


Fiona Hill, Chancellor of Durham University, Senior Fellow at Brookings Institution and former Presidential Adviser on Foreign Affairs


Professor Anand Menon, Director of UK in a Changing Europe

This event will be chaired by Dr Hannah White, Director and CEO of the Institute for Government.

We would like to thank UK in a Changing Europe for kindly supporting this event.
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