IfG Events

In conversation with Rt Hon James Murray MP, Chief Secretary to the Treasury: How will the government boost public service productivity?

IfG Events·April 30, 2026

OVERVIEW

This podcast features an in-conversation event with James Murray MP, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury. The discussion focuses on how the government plans to boost productivity in public services, covering topics such as the upcoming spending reviews, the role of AI and technology, and the importance of devolution and integration in public service reform.

KEY TOPICS

  • Government's approach to improving public service productivity
  • The role of technical efficiencies and transformation in departmental planning
  • The importance of external challenge and inter-departmental learning for innovation
  • The potential impact of AI on public sector productivity and economic growth
  • The role and future of the Office for Value for Money and thematic reviews
  • Government principles for public service reform: prevention, devolution, and integration
  • Balancing short-term versus long-term productivity gains in public spending
  • Coordination of public service reform across different departments
  • Preparing for the 2027 Spending Review
  • Addressing concerns about civil service failures and procurement
  • The importance of capital investment in public services
  • Government's approach to risk and innovation in the civil service

MAIN TAKEAWAYS

  • Technical efficiencies are considered a baseline for public service productivity, but the real gains come from transformational changes within departments.
  • External challenge and inter-departmental learning are crucial for generating new ideas and identifying areas for improvement, as internal perspectives can sometimes be limited.
  • AI holds significant potential for boosting productivity, but it requires political direction and a skilled workforce to effectively absorb and deploy these technologies. The focus should shift from individual employee productivity to streamlining or automating entire processes.
  • The Office for Value for Money's work has emphasized focusing on specific areas with high potential for value for money improvements, such as homelessness and youth services, to drive the agenda forward.
  • Government principles like devolution and integration are seen as key to improving productivity by allowing for place-based pilots and localized decision-making, while also ensuring coordination across services.
  • Sustaining capital investment is critical for long-term productivity, especially in sectors like the NHS, as short-term cuts can lead to greater inefficiencies down the line. Fiscal rules help protect this investment.
  • The Treasury aims to coordinate reform across departments by working closely with individual departments, enabling testing of new ideas, and promoting the spread of successful initiatives.
  • For the next Spending Review (SR27), the focus will be on building upon the foundations of transformation laid in SR25, going further with ambitious ideas, particularly in areas like AI.
  • Addressing issues like civil service failures, procurement inefficiencies, and fostering a culture that encourages sensible risk-taking and innovation among civil servants are vital for achieving substantial productivity gains.
  • The government acknowledges the need for clarity of objectives in departmental work to ensure productivity efforts are well-directed and impactful.

NOTABLE QUOTES

"The value of having flexibility, innovation, and capacity at the front line is absolutely essential to any discussion about public sector productivity."
"We don't always have the ideas in government about how to do transformation. We need to be open to having ideas and challenge from outside."
"If things are working, we want them to spread as quickly as possible."
"AI will not just happen passively... it needs political direction."
"The capital investment really helps to unlock some of those productivity gains."

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