Press coverage

Maisie Borrows, Research Manager at Reform, wrote a piece for Glint Perspectives on how public services could use technology to improve productivity. Her piece draws parallels with innovation in the private sector to explore what lessons the public sector could learn.

Read it here.

Following the publication of Reform‘s report, Smarter Working in public services: the HMRC experience so far, Researcher Luke Heselwood wrote an article for Civil Service World exploring what other departments can learn from HMRC’s smarter working agenda.

“Smarter working can help to break down the traditional silos of government, with more shared spaces and technology. By doing so, it can improve service delivery and help to reach Sir Michael Barber’s aim of achieving maximum value for every pound spent.”

Read the article here.

Reform‘s latest report, Smarter Working in public services: the HMRC experience so far, assesses how far HMRC have adopted Smarter Working principles to become more efficient and effective.

It has received coverage in UK Authority, Civil Service World and Public Technology.

Maisie Borrows, Research Manager, contributed an article to the recently published Braintree whitepaper on AI in Government and Public services. Following the publication, she was quoted in both Government Computing and Open Access Government, saying “AI can have a profound impact on how the civil service runs. From defence to health, a greater use of AI can lead to more efficient, effective and productive public services. At its most basic level, AI can replace repetitive tasks and allow civil servants to focus on more complex work. More sophisticated AI has the potential to change the entire nature of work, allowing public services to predict and prevent future challenges.”

Eleonora Harwich, Director of Research, appeared on Sky News on 17 August to discuss the Government's new project to tackle the problems in Britain's 10 most challenging prisons. She argues that whilst extra £10 million of funding is a good thing, we cannot forget about the wider prison reform and how we can improve outcomes longer term and reduce re-offending. 

On 16 August 2018, Reform published a report on the potential of data sharing to transform the delivery of public services. Media coverage included: The Telegraph, Public Technology, Civil Service World, UK Authority, The Register, Out-Law.com, Holyrood, Government Europa, Smart Cities World and GovLab.

The report was referenced by the Office for Statistics Regulation,the Better Care Fund and the Children's Commissioner.

It also received international coverage including in Italy.

Sarah Timmis, Researcher at Reform, wrote an article in Public Finance following the launch of Reform's report 'Sharing the benefits: How to use data effectively in the public sector'. 

She argued that better data sharing has the potential to transform public services, but public confidence must be upheld. As tech giants in Silicon Valley come under scrutiny for breaching data laws, the public sector should act as an example of best practice, where privacy, security and consent are put first. Full article can be found here. 

Tom Richmond, Senior Research Fellow, Reform, appeared on a interview on the BBC News at Five. He discussed this week’s pay rise for teachers and other public sector workers, with teachers receiving up to 3.5% in September.

On Monday, Maisie Borrows, Senior Researcher at Reform, was on BBC Radio Hereford and Worcestershire talking about the need to improve efficiency in hospital to reduces delays in elective care.

You can listen to the full interview here (Maisie appears at 2.12.27).