Innovating public policy
The 5th Edition of Heywood Quarterly is here!
The 5th Edition of Heywood Quarterly – The State of trust – is now live on our website! Across this edition, a common theme emerges in many of our contributors’ reflections: trust. Its importance, its fragility and the ways that leaders across the Civil Service are working to protect and rebuild it. The edition covers a range of topics, from Chris Whitty on how policy can improve public health, to an interview with Britain’s first blind overseas ambassador, Victoria Harrison. Read the individual articles here or access the full, illustrated edition as a PDF.
The UK Needs to Think Long-Term or Risk Falling Behind, Says Heywood Fellow
The current Heywood Fellow, Lucy Smith, today set out a series of reforms to help government think long-term. These reforms, captured in the National Strategy Playbook, are needed to help prepare the UK for the major challenges – climate risk, demographic change, technological transformation and fraying social trust – that stretch beyond electoral terms.
Read more about the Heywood Fellowship team’s recommendations here. You can also access the National Strategy Playbook here, as well as the transcript from Lucy’s concluding lecture.
Jenny Bates Joins Blavatnik School as the new Heywood Fellow
We are delighted to appoint Jenny Bates as our fourth Heywood Fellow. The fellowship has proved itself to be an effective way for senior officials to tackle challenging policy issues. It has also shown the power of combining government experience with academic rigour and gaining insights from people outside of government and from other countries.
During her fellowship, Jenny will consider the changing global economic order and seek to develop a refreshed approach – or longer-term strategy – for the UK. Read more about her appointment and plans for the fellowship here.
Heywood Fellowship Work on Long-Term Strategies
Lucy Smith, our current Heywood Fellow, and her team have recently produced two research papers. These explore the importance of long-term strategies and lay out a framework for building them based on lessons from history and international case studies.
Read the Heywood Fellowship team’s research papers here, along with Lucy’s article in the Fourth Edition of Heywood Quarterly.
Lucy Smith Joins Blavatnik School as the new Heywood Fellow
We are excited to announce that Lucy Smith, a senior civil servant, has been appointed as the third Heywood Fellow at the Blavatnik School of Government and Hertford College. This fellowship, established in memory of former Cabinet Secretary Jeremy Heywood, provides senior civil servants with the opportunity to focus on public service and policy innovation.
During her fellowship, Lucy will explore how governments can develop successful long-term strategies, a vital issue in today’s rapidly changing world. Read more about her appointment and plans for the fellowship here.
2nd Edition of Heywood Quarterly Now Available
Issue Two of Heywood Quarterly – Ideas for the New Government – covers a range of topics, from the importance of policy making for the long-term, innovation in Whitehall, and the art of crisis management, to the future of English devolution, the benefits of mutualisation as a form of ownership, and the role of financial watchdogs. Read the individual articles here or access the full edition as PDF.
Heywood Fellowship Update
It is fantastic that the work that Jonathan Black and his team have done has now been published. Jonathan has been a brilliant Heywood Fellow and his report on how better to connect economic and foreign policy thinking is critical in today’s unstable world.
We are delighted that Jack Connolly has published his fascinating historical work on sanctions. What he has found is that the UK has a huge amount of (largely forgotten) expertise on sanctions, honed during WW1 and WW2. This knowledge was captured in the handbook pictured in Jack’s post, and is highly relevant again in today’s unstable world. Well done indeed to Jack – we’re thrilled that the Heywood Foundation was able to support his work.
Our Prize Winning ideas
The Heywood Foundation is delighted to see the Government’s announcement of more funding for local community projects, as this plan is closely related to UK Community Investment Bank, the winning proposal of the 2022/2023 Heywood Prize.
Winners and Runners-up
Strength in connection: the transformative power of peer mentoring in children’s mental health
Simple to implement fraud reduction proposal
You can find even more great ideas in our searchable database.
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