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Heloise Dunlop

@hcdunlop.bsky.social
317 followers 708 following 111 posts

Researcher on the civil service team at the Institute for Government, formerly worked in public sector digital delivery and strategy. Views my own.

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Reposted by Heloise Dunlop
Ben Paxton @drbenpaxton.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
I'm torn on this. A NEETs review making recommendations on PIP and UC health really should be aligned with the PIP review - so if this delay is to ensure the Timms and Milburn review align, then great. But if this is just more can-kicking, then that's really not good www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...
thetimes.com
Verifying Device
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Heloise Dunlop @hcdunlop.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Benefits are a particularly contentious policy area. As @drbenpaxton.bsky.social says, this means it's important for ministers to set out a clear vision for what outcomes the health and disability benefits system is trying to achieve. This is possible, but involves building a new consensus.
Screenshot of a heading and paragraph of the report saying:

HEADING: Working-age benefits are a lightning rod for public debate

PARAGRAPH: The existence of social security is premised on the fact that there are some shared risks that everyone is liable to experience at some point in their lives, from loss of salary due to short-term unemployment, to having inadequate income in retirement,
which the state tries to mitigate or eliminate. It is also there for people who might, for various reasons, have low lifetime earnings. What support government should or should not provide for people to help manage these risks goes to the heart of people’s conception of what the state is for. But there are two important features of working-age social security that make it especially politically contentious.
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Heloise Dunlop @hcdunlop.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Our report has looked at how to reform health and disability benefits in the round - from the political leadership it takes, the join-up necessary for implementation, the gaps in evidence, and how the assessment process and approach to cost control needs to change for success. A lot to dig into...
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Hannah Keenan @hannahkeenan.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
And what jobs are they proposing cutting? As my colleague @hcdunlop.bsky.social points out this is basically the size of the whole of the operational delivery profession (prison officers, jobcentre plus staff, immigration officers, etc.)
A bar chart by the Institute for Government showing the number of civil servants by profession in 2026. The chart shows that operational delivery is the largest profession.
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Heloise Dunlop @hcdunlop.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Good letter from Chi Onwurah seeking clarification about the split of DSIT’s responsibilities. The fact that there is still little clarity about the split is concerning, but it is a silver lining that the committee’s really good work will be continuing committees.parliament.uk/publications...
committees.parliament.uk
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Heloise Dunlop @hcdunlop.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
This is the first time that numbers in the operational delivery profession (frontline officials, e.g. prison officers) have fallen since 2021. The policy profession has also slowed its growth. But the digital and data profession has continued to grow –it's now 182% bigger than it was in 2016 (3/3)
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Heloise Dunlop @hcdunlop.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Headline announcement is that grade inflation has continued its seven-year slowdown. G7/6 and HEO/SEO grades have still grown proportionally to their numbers in 2010, but the trend shows that grade inflation as a problem is easing off overall. (2/3)
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Heloise Dunlop @hcdunlop.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Following on from @jackworlidge.bsky.social's analysis, here are a few other interesting things to pull out from this year's civil service stats (1/3)
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Heloise Dunlop @hcdunlop.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
After spending a bit of time digesting the news of DSIT's split, I've written a few thoughts about the risks that this might create 👇 www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/demo...
instituteforgovernment.org.uk
Demolishing DSIT risks losing focus, expertise and coordination | Institute for Government
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology made sense.
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Reposted by Heloise Dunlop
Jeni Tennison @jenitennison.com · 23/07/2026
Agree with this. The (then) Science and Technology Committee existed prior to DSIT and should continue after it, including scrutiny of public sector adoption of digital, data and AI, the responsibility for which is now distributed across departments. committees.parliament.uk/committee/13...
committees.parliament.uk
Role - Science, Innovation and Technology Committee - Committees - UK Parliament
The Science, Innovation and Technology Select Committee is appointed by the House of Commons to examine the expenditure, administration and policy of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technol...
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Reposted by Heloise Dunlop
Jill Rutter @jillongovt.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
The row over funding the VAT cut does not matter much in the wider scheme of things - but should serve as a warning to the Burnham govt to be more careful in announcements. If @hcdunlop.bsky.social and I knew govt had not made clear how it would fund ID cards, people inside govt knew that too
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Heloise Dunlop @hcdunlop.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
But the dispersal of DSIT's responsibilities is also similar to the split that created it - BEIS & DCMS. There might be some institutional muscle that can make this split work, but I do feel for GDS, which has faced a lot of reorganisation over the past 2 years!
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Heloise Dunlop @hcdunlop.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Possibly symbolic, but I can't help but think that the loss of 'technology' from BIST (?) and DCMS (v2) is important - Sunak in creating DSIT was right that UK has real strengths in the pipeline between science, innovation and technology (not just AI!) and this will likely be confusing.
gov.uk
Plan to forge a better Britain through science and technology unveiled
The Prime Minister and Technology Secretary today launched the government’s plan to cement the UK’s place as a science and technology superpower by 2030.
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Heloise Dunlop @hcdunlop.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
There was also a lot of ongoing work in DSIT (National Data Library, Service Standard) and agencies with v important and current briefs (UKRI, GO Science). AI is also one of them - and is a v fast moving sector! Machinery of govt changes take time and as Gavin points out - there's not much of it.
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Heloise Dunlop @hcdunlop.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Worth seeing where GDS, i.AI and AISI (three successes of UK govt tech) end up, and how a Minister of State for AI works across two depts in essentially the same (or very similar) brief as in DSIT, but without the regulatory powers and expertise in one dedicated dept.
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Heloise Dunlop @hcdunlop.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Good thread from @gavinfreeguard.com about the decision to split DSIT. It struggled with its ability to influence (esp. as digital centre of govt) across govt, hiring senior roles, and has just had a reorg with the move of GDS in 2024. But the new depts have big & more varied (& unrelated) briefs
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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
This is a real shame - Patrick Vallance has been a really excellent and committed Science Minister who knew the territory and took a strategic view. Big shoes to fill
Patrick Vallance resigns from government
Science minister Lord Patrick Vallance has resigned from government following
Sir Keir Starmer's departure.
"After nearly a decade in Government I am stepping down as a minister, for personal reasons,
" he said in a
statement.
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Heloise Dunlop @hcdunlop.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
@jillongovt.bsky.social and I had a report ready to go but were pipped to the post by Burnham’s (predictable) decision to bring digital ID to an end. There were too many questions to answer and little that had been decided, making it an easier (and popular) decision than most will be for Burnham!
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Jill Rutter @jillongovt.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
well @hcdunlop.bsky.social and I had a paper due to come out for @instituteforgovernment.org.uk on what Andy Burnham should think about before scrapping digital ID but looks as though he may preempt us (£)https://www.ft.com/content/8f5445ab-dacb-4908-909f-277853ad0f50?syn-25a6b1a6=1
ft.com
Burnham scraps new digital ID scheme
Incoming prime minister says money saved will go towards tackling cost-of-living crisis
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Heloise Dunlop @hcdunlop.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
It will be interesting to see how GDS creates a "shared, evolving standards framework", given challenges DSIT has had as the digital centre of government. But it is the right challenge to undertake and essential that govt finds a new way to manage the continuous improvement of its services. (3/3)
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Heloise Dunlop @hcdunlop.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
GDS is right to identify that the SS has become prescriptive, tightly coupled with the assessment process, and hard to apply to complex services. It's also right to point out that the SS helped guide some of the good practice we see today in UK digital services - and was a global model. (2/3)
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Heloise Dunlop @hcdunlop.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
I had a guess a few months ago that big changes might be afoot in GDS and it looks like they are. GDS published a blog saying that they are "evolving" the service standard "to define what “good” looks like for the future of public services" (1/3)
gds.blog.gov.uk
Evolving the Service Standard for the future of public services
We’re evolving the Service Standard from a one-off test into a living standard for modern, end-to-end public services. Here’s how – and how to be involved.
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Heloise Dunlop @hcdunlop.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
👇It was fascinating to co-author this report on delivering digital transformation in public services and pull out the 7 lessons for future leaders of digital transformation to keep in mind:
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Heloise Dunlop @hcdunlop.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
If the govt is looking to improve SEB representation, it should go further than the limited change it has made to the summer internship programme. We wrote in Whitehall Monitor that the Social Mobility Commission's 2021 action plan would be a good starting point to make more progress (2/2)
instituteforgovernment.org.uk
Whitehall Monitor 2026: Part 2 - The state of the civil service | Institute for Government
Analysis of how the civil service changed in 2025, including its size, structure and morale, and the approach to digital transformation and AI.
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Heloise Dunlop @hcdunlop.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
New people survey demographic data for 2025 has been published - the numbers on socio-economic background of civil servants does not seem to have changed significantly from 2024 data. A very slight (1pp) increase in representation at SCS of civil servants from a lower SEB, but broadly static (1/2)
A bar chart from the Institute for Government showing socio-economic background of civil servants by grade, 2025, where the share of staff with a high socio-economic background increases with grade, from 46% at AO/AA grade level to 70% in the senior civil service.A bar chart from the Institute for Government showing socio-economic background of civil servants by grade, 2024, where the share of staff with a high socio-economic background increases with grade, from 45% at AO/AA grade level to 71% in the senior civil service.
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Hannah Keenan @hannahkeenan.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
Excellent to see Darren Jones announce "performance based pay progression" for the senior civil service. It hopefully starts to change some bad incentives in the system as it is at the moment...
questions-statements.parliament.uk
Written statements - Written questions, answers and statements - UK Parliament
Information from UK Parliament on written questions & answers, written statements and daily reports.
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Heloise Dunlop @hcdunlop.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
Good to see the new (but still interim) govt CTO talking about creating stronger data infrastructure & foundations. It's positive that govt wants better join up - building public trust and giving careful thought to where & why, when it identifies what data/systems to link, will be v important.
civilserviceworld.com
Chief technology officer sets out vision for 'intelligent government'
'Interoperability, not centralisation, will allow us to act as one', Sonia Patel says
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Ben Paxton @drbenpaxton.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
This is just the kind of testing and learning government should be doing to better understand how to support people out of work due to ill health (£) www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...
thetimes.com
Sick notes ‘scrapped’ under plans to reduce benefit claimants
Social prescribers will be brought in to help those struggling with their health to stay in work in an attempt to reduce spiralling costs
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Heloise Dunlop @hcdunlop.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
This briefing by @adalovelaceinst.bsky.social provides a great toolkit to evaluate claims about AI. Alights on the same point in Whitehall Monitor: productivity gains are more complex than time savings alone. Govt is an org w/ existing problems - there needs to be a clear purpose for AI adoption
adalovelaceinstitute.org
Measuring up
Evaluating claims about AI and productivity in the UK public sector
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Heloise Dunlop @hcdunlop.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
We talk about similar themes in Whitehall Monitor's digi transformation & AI chapters: addressing legacy systems before they become critical problems; collab btwn different teams; leadership w/ a strong understanding of the area; and importantly the absence of a full-time govt chief digi officer
instituteforgovernment.org.uk
Whitehall Monitor 2026: Part 2 - The state of the civil service | Institute for Government
Analysis of how the civil service changed in 2025, including its size, structure and morale, and the approach to digital transformation and AI.
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Heloise Dunlop @hcdunlop.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
PAC’s report on the BoE’s successful RTGS transformation programme made recs to govt – a great e.g. of reporting good practice & showing that successful digital transformation is possible! publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5901/cm...
publications.parliament.uk
The Bank of England’s Real-Time Gross Settlement Renewal Programme
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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
I’ve written on the new @instituteforgovernment.org.uk report on employment support in today’s newsletter:
ft.com
Novel approach needed for UK’s sick and unemployed
A shift to local initiatives may help more people back into work
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Hannah Keenan @hannahkeenan.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
There's so much to write about everything that's happening with Mandelson vetting fight (and always happy to explain the process, others have done so v well on here). But the v. aggressive approach from no10 is over the weekend is just so damaging - so have tried to capture some of that
instituteforgovernment.org.uk
The Mandelson vetting blame-game is causing serious damage to ministerial-civil service relations | Institute for Government
The sacking of Olly Robbins has been badly handled by Keir Starmer.
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Ben Paxton @drbenpaxton.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
Our new IfG report explores what a better system of employment support for people out of work due to ill health could look like. DWP's centralised approach to date has some strengths, but has limited integration with other services and the innovation needed to better understand what works 🧵
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Daniel Howes @howesdaniel.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
In a first for the IfG, @meganbryer.bsky.social and I have translated two pieces about the upcoming Welsh and Scottish elections into Cymraeg! 1/🧵
media.tenor.com
a red dragon on a green and white flag
ALT: a red dragon on a green and white flag
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Ciaran Martin @ciaranm.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
Surely then no other government would be able to do anything? Enter Britain’s AI Security Institute, established by the Sunak gov’t & rebadged by the Starmer one AISI successfully negotiated access to Mythos preview. So far as we know, it is the only foreign government body to have done so 9/
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Heloise Dunlop @hcdunlop.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
It's also a sign of the plans set out by the Office for Value for Money's 'Reforming the spending control and accountability framework' being put in place - my colleague @drbenpaxton.bsky.social has written about the success of the OfVM (4/4) www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/offi...
instituteforgovernment.org.uk
The Office for Value for Money has been a success | Institute for Government
In its short lifetime the OfVM made valuable proposals for change.
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Heloise Dunlop @hcdunlop.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
It’s a significant move towards more autonomy and suggests bigger changes in the mix in GDS, given how interlinked spend controls, the service standard and tech code of practice are. It will be interesting to see how or if this affects other infrastructure in place since the start of GDS! (3/4)
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Heloise Dunlop @hcdunlop.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
The new ‘Digital Assurance Playbook’ removes digital and technology spend controls (but keeps HMT pipeline) & GDS’s involvement in business case or lower-level approvals (but remains for those above orgs’ delegated authority limits or determined as ‘novel, contentious or repercussive’). (2/4)
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Heloise Dunlop @hcdunlop.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
This looks like a big change to GDS spend controls – which have been in place since 2010! Spend controls were put in place to ensure that tech projects/programmes followed the technology code of practice & are also part of the service assessment process (1/4) www.gov.uk/government/p...
gov.uk
Digital Assurance Playbook
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Heloise Dunlop @hcdunlop.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
As @rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social said at our event last year (something I’ve gone back to a lot!) - digital ID “exists in the imaginary” and to avoid repeating its original false start, it’s important the govt takes time to build a consensus More detailed thoughts in my comment:
instituteforgovernment.org.uk
The government’s consultation on digital ID marks a shift in tone and substance | Institute for Government
Will the government’s digital ID plan recover from Keir Starmer’s hasty false start?
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Heloise Dunlop @hcdunlop.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
This mismatch between the expansive vision for digital ID and the potential technical options is one govt will need to watch out for - govt needs to keep its focus on explaining how digital ID is useful for the public
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Heloise Dunlop @hcdunlop.bsky.social · 22/03/2026
I’m sorry to hear this - I’m sending lots of good wishes to you and hope that things start improving / moving as you find out more!
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Hannah Keenan @hannahkeenan.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
This would obviously be very bad for state capacity. The binding constraint on civil servants getting stuff done is, very clearly, not their belief in the political project. Have tried to capture some of this - while obvious it still bears saying. www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/refo...
theguardian.com
Reform UK government would replace top civil servants with those ‘more likely to implement party’s priorities’
Exclusive: Senior party figures conclude outsiders or existing senior staff deemed more suitable should take over from current permanent secretaries
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Daniel Howes @howesdaniel.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
It's that time again... ONS Public Sector Employment dropped today, revealing a familiar pattern - the civil service just can't stop growing. An increase of 535 from Q3 2025 to Q4 2025 brings the total to 520,860 (FTE). @instituteforgovernment.org.uk
A line chart from the institute for Government showing how the size of the civil service has changed since 2009. It shrinks gradually to a minimum in 2016, but has been steadily increasing since then.
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Institute for Government @instituteforgovernment.org.uk · 18/03/2026
What can the Foreign Office actually do when British nationals are caught up in a crisis overseas? @hcdunlop.bsky.social and @howesdaniel.bsky.social break down the support the UK can - and can’t - provide, and why expectations often exceed reality. www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/article/expl...
instituteforgovernment.org.uk
How does the Foreign Office help British nationals in a crisis? | Institute for Government
There are several ways the UK government steps in to help British nationals abroad.
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Hannah Keenan @hannahkeenan.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
Only a quarter of civil servants think they save at least an hour a week using AI, but over 70% think AI will change how they do their current jobs. How do you square that? Hype? Bad tools? Poor training? Great thread from @hcdunlop.bsky.social looking at the new AI questions in the people survey.
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Heloise Dunlop @hcdunlop.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
Interestingly, 70.9% of respondents overall feel as if it is likely or v likely AI will change how they do their current jobs in the next 5 years. Even the lowest scoring depts for time savings, DWP and HMRC, report high scores (72.1% and 71.5% respectively). This gap is something to watch... (5/5)
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Heloise Dunlop @hcdunlop.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
DHSC's low score (23.7%) might be the impact of low morale (see @stuarthoddinott.bsky.social's helpful thread on DHSC's morale), but without further information, we can't be sure. (4/5) bsky.app/profile/stua...
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Heloise Dunlop @hcdunlop.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
From central govt, the 5 big operational depts (DWP, HMRC, MoD, MoJ, HO) reporting the lowest scores (HO = 27.9%) might be explained by the nature of operational delivery roles. (3/5)
A scatter plot chart from the Institute for Government of the proportion of civil servants in the operational delivery profession compared to civil servant numbers by department in 2025. In the chart, the biggest five departments are significantly further away from the cluster of other departments, which all have fewer than 20,000 civil servants. Though HMRC and MoD have proportionally fewer civil servants in operational delivery in their workforces than four other departments, the fact that their workforces are over 50,000 makes the profession much larger. HO, DWP and MoJ are all near the top of the chart, with MoJ both the biggest department in terms of overall workforce and operational delivery workforce (87%).
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