John McDonough

Really interesting piece that Joshi. I’ve only met @AndyBurnhamGM once, at #NPEESS22 He and some other speakers were scathing about @educationgovuk and rightly so, but seemed unaware of the problems @DWP were causing which were even greater. We had a quick chat and he said “I’ll give you 15 minutes, Gemma will organise it”. I didn’t know who Gemma was at the time (his director of skills) and she was very defensive. Needless to say that meeting never happened. Mayors have got the same problems ministers have which @danny__kruger is highlighting today. Whoever is in charge has to be able to get a different tune out of public sector. Here’s how: recroconsulting.co.uk/the-need-for-p…

I’ve been writing about Andy Burnham in Manchester for a while. We’ve had a few run-ins but I think he has qualities that many people don’t appreciate and weaknesses that spell trouble. I wrote this for @ManchesterMill - I hope it’s insightful and fair. manchestermill.co.uk/stop-looking-f…

@danny__kruger is spot on except when you lift the bonnet like I have done over the years, Cabinet Office aren’t in charge either. They “default” to the department. So for example, when the Evaluation Task Force repeatedly does nothing with a huge amount of evidence from @recroconsulting about how to get people back into work, including the #NEETs which @alanmilburn1958 is looking at, they do nothing, because @DWP has done nothing. This went on for ages and I kept the receipts! #journalists?

This is extremely encouraging. Many of the areas earmarked for reform are precisely the things I have been calling for since leaving government - the appointment of far more private sector outsiders into the senior ranks of the civil service, changing remuneration to make the pensions less generous and fund more performance-related bonuses, reining in unaccountable quangos, and more. The full policy document is worth reading

I told Labour this before the election including @patmcfaddenmp @jreynoldsMP @stephenctimms @Alison_McGovern @RachelReevesMP @darrenpjones amongst many others but they haven’t touched it. But neither did the Tories. The ignorance and resistance in @DWP which @hmtreasury @cabinetofficeuk won’t touch is crippling the country. Here’s what to do from 2024: recroconsulting.co.uk/the-need-for-p…

Absolutely insane.

And remember, it only gets worse. Job centres are told that they are not allowed to know if an employment support programme works or not as it would be against fair and open competition. That’s obviously boll**ks but no government since I’ve been raising this has touched it since 2009. No council or mayor either. My evidence here: recroconsulting.co.uk/recro-evidence…

Excl - Alan Milburn reveals his report finds govt spends TWENTY FIVE times as much on benefits for young people as helping them find work - tells us it’s ‘shameful’

@MrLeeCain @montie Absolutely! Here’s the evidence I submitted which I understand some of his former colleagues sent to him directly to ensure it didn’t get overlooked by the authors… recroconsulting.co.uk/recro-evidence…

Amid all the political noise, this is such an important issue that is finally getting some attention

I explained to @darrenpjones last year how Treasury were not measuring ROI on DWP spend on employment support programmes job centres buy because job centres are told that knowing performance would be against fair and open competition. Obviously that was news to him. I outlined the way through, our facilitated amnesty approach and he was really interested. But all that happened was a standard brush off from Private Office who think that is their job. But this is what it looks like: recroconsulting.co.uk/change/

While most of the Labour Party are engaging in an overexcited bout of fratricide, Darren Jones announced last week that all government departments would be getting a new ‘delivery team’ led by a top civil servant to help them, you guessed it, ‘deliver’. This sort of tinkering is illustrative of Labour’s total lack of ideas for how to fix the civil service. Instead, all this government can resort to is reheated Blairism. Adding yet another layer of bureaucracy to the bloated state and employing yet more Sir Humphreys is quite clearly not the answer to tackling an inert and ineffective civil service that has grown 35 per cent in the past 10 years. My latest for @spikedonline👇 spiked-online.com/2026/05/21/why…

@jo3hill Can’t make it but as we discussed @lfg_uk and got off the press…

Can't wait to host this conference on July 1st!

Took me a while but… 👏✌️🤞

@PeterABedford So if that was @alanmilburn1958 has he seen this or not? Because until these most basic things happen, nothing can or will change. recroconsulting.co.uk/recro-evidence…

Earlier today, at the Work & Pensions Select Committee, I argued that government departments need to work more collaboratively, in a holistic way, to address the root causes of the alarming levels of youth unemployment. 👀You can watch a summary of my questions here:

@aliciakearns Successive governments have agreed this needs to be done but not acted. Happy to speak: recroconsulting.co.uk/the-need-for-p…

This mornings unemployment figures are deeply, deeply concerning. The country is now suffering 5% unemployment with over 100,000 job losses in the last year alone, and the fewest jobs available since the peak of the pandemic where no one was hiring for evident reasons. Government decisions have caused businesses to have to make cuts, or close down, and that’s being felt by our young people most of all, and our communities as unemployment rises.

@SkyNews @cathynewman Which means it needs to do this, as we discussed more than a decade ago Cathy: recroconsulting.co.uk/the-need-for-p…

"There's no point worrying about our welfare if the cities are in ashes," says General Sir Richard Barrons, who wrote the government's Strategic Defence Review. The government has to spend less on welfare to put more money into defence sooner, Barrons tells Sky's ＠CathyNewman.

Congrats Rachel! I’ve highlighted to your predecessors going back to @DavidGauke in 2014 how @hmtreasury are not measuring return on investment of @DWP spending on employment support programmes job centres buy. This is one of the single biggest issues in the UK and is strangling growth. @CommonsWorkPen and @CommonsPAC are aware. This is briefing your frontbench colleagues got prior to the election: recroconsulting.co.uk/the-need-for-p…

It is an honour to be appointed Economic Secretary to the Treasury. I continue to serve the Cities of London and Westminster as your Member of Parliament - our local communities need economic growth and stability.

@jo3hill I won’t put what I know about MOD procurement on here but it is truly astonishing. If nobody has the stomach for civil service reform like I highlight in employability and skills, they definitely won’t for defence. Until the day comes when we don’t have a choice. Literally.

Defence procurement is bad because the market is fundamentally uncompetitive, so MoD can't swap out bad suppliers for good ones. Good to see some no-brainer reforms announced which will start to change this - consolidating more funding to suppliers who hit targets, and taking it away from those who don't deliver. Markets deliver the best value when they are allowed to do that! Builds on ideas we recommended in @restate_thinks's 'Procure and simple' report last year.

The people who set the essay question can’t answer it… Or The law of unintended consequences?

DWP seem to take some sort of pride in their ignorance, resistance to change and refusal to becoming an intelligent organisation / client. This impacts councils and combined authorities massively but none will challenge. Treasury won’t touch them and neither will Cabinet Office. It seems no matter who walks through the doors in Caxton House, they become immediately captured and compromised. Is everyone too frightened to land a glove? 🤔 recroconsulting.co.uk/press-release-…

The amount of fraud in our welfare state must run into the billions. A huge opportunity for a government that properly seized this issue

@ce_pickles recroconsulting.co.uk/press-release-…

More than half of all civil servants work in the Operational Delivery Profession- over 300,000 ppl Around 30% work in 'functions' Just 7% work in policy The vast majority of the CS are, by role definition, doing delivery But sure, a tiny depn't unit & an advisor is the answer

@montie And this: recroconsulting.co.uk/press-release-…

A million delivery units won't make any difference until individual civil servants face consequences (including pay freezes and - ultimately - termination of employment) for missing measurable performance goals.

@montie Needs this: recroconsulting.co.uk/the-need-for-p…

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