Leading Questions – Details, episodes & analysis

Governments around the world are all faced with meeting skills gaps and talent challenges. Many services require digitally-savvy public servants to help deliver more citizen-focused services, while there is also a need for leadership and management skills to allow government to become more risk-smart and innovative. 

This Government Transformed podcast, supported by knowledge partner Skillsoft, looked at how governments can assess the skills they need; how they are working to quicken recruitment in key digital skills; and how artificial intelligence developments will change the skills that civil servants need.

Join host Richard Johnstone and representatives from the governments of Belgium, Canada, South Africa and knowledge partner Skillsoft as we also discuss how governments can benchmark skills and performance, and how they are working to do more with less.

This podcast is based on a Global Government Forum webinar, How to get the right skills mix for modern, digital government, held on 8 July and supported by knowledge partner Skillsoft.

Click here to find out more about Global Government Forum’s training and development programmes.

Read Global Government Forum’s Making Government Work report, which reveals five pillars of a modern civil service.

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Civil servants in government make many decisions every day.

From policy officials working to develop responsive services that meet users’ needs, to frontline officials who have to make choices on what tax cases to prioritise, the work of government requires the skills to make effective decisions.

This Global Government Forum webinar looked at how governments can build systems that help drive better decision-making – and how civil servants can develop the skills to make – and implement – confident decisions.

This webinar brought together public servants from around the world to discuss how governments are streamlining the way they work to become more nimble. It looked at how governments are building systems that will provide more effective data on public service delivery – boosting effective decision-making and facilitating action.

This session discussed:

• The data practices that are making a difference for decision-makers, and the value that can be unlocked from more timely and accurate data in government.
• The technology and operations that are improving decision-makers’ agility to react to changing and evolving conditions.
• The skills needed to make confident decisions in government.
• The role of AI and AI agents in better decision-making and action-taking.

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Following the UK general election, Labour has formed a government with a large majority – and with a focus on delivering five national missions. These are: kickstarting economic growth, making Britain a clean energy superpower; take back our streets by halving serious violent crime; breaking down barriers to opportunity; and building an NHS fit for the future. 

Focusing on delivering these long-term missions requires, according to prime minister Keir Starmer, requires a different approach to government. It requires departments to work together outside traditional silos, as well as with regional and local government, and businesses and unions, 

How, then, will Labour change government to deliver these missions? This podcast, the fourth in Global Government Forum’s How Government Works series and based on a webinar held on 14 November, discusses the changes that Labour is making in government to drive progress on these missions, as well as other changes in how government is structured that can deliver on its priorities. The session also touched on what the Budget reveals about the government’s priorities for the next year and beyond. 

This episode was recorded before prime minister Sir Keir Starmer set out the milestones for the government’s missions in a speech on 30 November, and before Sir Chris Wormald was named as the UK’s cabinet secretary and head of the civil service with a mission to “change the way government serves this country”. These updates will be discussed in the next webinar in GGF’s How Government Work series, taking place on 4 March. 

And find out more about how the UK government and its international peers are dealing the challenges they face at Global Government Forum’s Innovation conference on 25-26 March 2025.

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In this third instalment of Global Government Forum’s How Government Works podcast series – which provides a guide to the UK’s corridors of power – we examine the scope of operations, activities and processes that are involved in the delivery of new policy initiatives. 

This episode explores the policymaking processes: what gets prioritised for legislation and how it is scrutinised and passed, and how does it move to delivery both in the public and private sectors. 

This is the third in a series of podcasts from Global Government Forum setting out how government works, and was based on a webinar held on 13 September 2024.  

Keep your eyes on your podcast feed for more episodes from Global Government Forum’s How Government Works series.  

Register for the next webinar in GGF’s How Government Work series, providing more information on the government’s missions and what they mean in areas like procurement, taking place on 4 March.

And find out more about how the UK government and its international peers are dealing the challenges they face at Global Government Forum’s Innovation conference on 25-26 March 2025.

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In this second instalment of Global Government Forum’s How Government Works podcast series – which provides a guide to the UK’s corridors of power – we examine governance, regulation and culture of Whitehall and Westminster. 

Organisational cultures are key to how any operation functions, and this episode looks at everything from the civil service and ministerial codes, to ethics advisors and independent standards committees, and onto parliamentary scrutiny of the government. 

This is the second in a series of podcasts from Global Government Forum setting out how government works, and was based on a webinar held on 23 August 2024.  

Register for the next webinar in GGF’s How Government Work series, providing more information on the government’s missions and what they mean in areas like procurement, taking place on 4 March.

And find out more about how the UK government and its international peers are dealing the challenges they face at Global Government Forum’s Innovation conference on 25-26 March 2025.

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Understanding how Whitehall and Westminster work can be a daunting challenge. Even those who have been interacting professionally with government for many years can find some of the practices, procedures, conventions and relationships complicated to navigate.

This first podcast in Global Government Forum’s How Government Works series provides easy-to-digest information on who does what, and how, in government.

Listen to this episode to get a simple summary of everything from constitutional frameworks to the organisational structures and interactions, and onto operational procedures, people and power. The session also looked at how to interact with these institutions and people in the most appropriate and effective ways.

This is the first in a series of podcasts from Global Government Forum setting out how government works, and was based on a webinar held on 12 July 2024. At the time of recording, Simon Case was the UK government cabinet secretary, prior to his departure in December 2024.

Find out more about how the UK government and its international peers are dealing the challenges they face at Global Government Forum’s Innovation conference on 25-26 March 2025

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The US presidential election is the most consequential taking place in the ‘year of democracy’.

This special episode of Global Government Forum’s Leading Questions podcast, taken from a webinar held on 19 November, looks at what public servants will be doing to prepare for the incoming presidential team led by President Donald Trump.

In this podcast, webinar chair Siobhan Benita discusses the work that civil servants will be undertaking for the government transition with Jason Briefel, non-attorney partner and director of government and public affairs, Shaw Bransford & Roth, and Richard Johnstone, executive editor, Global Government Forum.

Listen to this podcast to hear insight on what civil servants will be doing to prepare for a new president, the process of a presidential transition, and what the Department of Government Efficiency means for government.

The conversation covers:

• What the election result reveals about the public's priorities for government - particularly around trends like tackling inflation and immigration.
• How the result fits into international electoral trends.
• What happens in a government transition.
• How civil servants will be preparing for implementing Trump's priorities - introducing tariffs, deportation of illegal immigrants, reducing government spending.
• Key appointments that are made so far.

Mentioned in this episode:

Japan looks to learn from Elon Musk’s US government efficiency programme

Read the US CIO study mentioned in this report

Register now for Government Service Delivery – the new name for GovernmentDX

Over the two days of May 13 – 14, 2025, the Government Service Delivery event program unites global digital government leaders to explore tech-driven innovation for delivering high-quality public services for customers. This event will include an exclusive series of roundtables and an open conference – find out more here and register your interest

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On this episode of Leading Questions LIVE, Siobhan Benita speaks to Dominic Rochon, chief information officer for Canada.

They discuss Dominic’s broad mandate, which includes service delivery, security and privacy, as well as his current priorities such as improving digital services, enhancing cybersecurity, and modernising legacy systems. Dominic touches upon Canada’s past technological failures and controversies, and stresses the role of collaboration, both within government and with provincial governments and the private sector, to bring public services into a new era of human-centred service design. The conversation also covers how to professionalise the digital workforce and implement more agile procurement practices to keep pace with technological advancements.

“In the financial world…chief financial officers have to get certifications and have to keep those certifications up to date,” Rochon said. “In the federal government, that is not the case for the digital world. I'd like to explore how we get to that, particularly given how fast technology is evolving.”

He highlights how such an approach is particularly needed if government is to make the most of artificial intelligence, for example.

This episode also previews AccelerateGOV, Global Government Forum’s annual conference held in Ottawa, where digital leaders from around the world gather to discuss how governments can overcome challenges to realise the opportunities of digital transformation.

Listen to the podcast in full to hear about how Dominic is leading the way to making digital transformation happen.

Public servants can register free to attend  AccelerateGOV,  taking place at the Shaw Centre on 21 October.

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In this episode of Leading Question, recorded with a live online audience, a panel of Global Government Forum experts delve into the findings of its research into the key characteristics needed for a modern public service. The Making Government Work report identifies five key pillars of a modern civil service, which are:

·       Strong leadership with mutual respect and alignment between ministers and senior officials

·       Building a highly skilled, inclusive and thriving public sector workforce.

·       Fostering an agile, digital, and risk-taking culture focused on delivery.

·       Implementing working structures that transcend organisational silos.

·       Cultivating a service trusted by its users and the public.

The report is the culmination of interviews with 12 senior civil service leaders from around the world, and comes in response to requests from leaders at Global Government Forum’s annual Global Government Summit for a comprehensive “blueprint” for government that could consolidate and expand key knowledge shared over the past decade.

In the conversation, report authors Richard Johnstone, Siobhan Benita and Lord Gus O’Donnell discuss the elements of each of these pillars, setting out the findings from this unique research. Listen now for an unprecedented primer on the key issues that governments around the world are facing. For civil servants looking to understand how to cultivate a service trusted by individual users and the public at large, this discussion is essential listening.

Read our Making Government Work report here.

Thank you to the leaders who took part in this study:

·       Glyn Davis, secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Australia

·       Donna Cadogan, head, public service, Barbados

·       John Hannaford, clerk of the Privy Council and secretary to the Cabinet, Canada

·       Taimar Peterkop, state secretary, Estonia

·       Henrik Haapajärvi, former state secretary to the prime minister, Finland

·       Claire Landais, secretary general of the government, France

·       Haryomo Dwi Putranto, acting chair, Indonesian National Civil Service Agency, Indonesia

·       John Callinan, secretary general of Department of Taoiseach and Government, Ireland

·       Folasade Yemi-Esan, head of the civil service of the Federation, Nigeria (retired 14 August)

·       Leo Yip, head of civil service and permanent secretary (Prime Minister’s Office), Singapore

·       Simon Case, cabinet secretary and head of the civil service, United Kingdom

·       Dustin Brown, deputy assistant director for Management, Office of Management and Budget, Executive Office of the President, United States (at time of interview).

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In this special edition of Global Government Forum’s Leading Questions podcast, which is based on a GGF webinar held in September, we look at the key issues in the upcoming United States presidential election.

Join Siobhan Benita as she discusses the key issues of the campaign with Dr Thomas Gift, the associate professor of political science and director of the Centre on US Politics (CUSP) at UCL, and Kevin R. Kosar, a resident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

Listen to this podcast to find out the key issues shaping the campaign, the policy priorities being set out by the parties, and the early actions that the next president will likely take.

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