Maria Laura La Corte
LightNews LightNews
banner
marialaura-lacorte.bsky.social
Maria Laura La Corte
@marialaura-lacorte.bsky.social
160 followers 76 following 38 posts
Research Assistant on the Public Services team @instituteforgovernment.org.uk
Posts Replies Media Videos
marialaura-lacorte.bsky.social
If you wanted a one-day snapshot of what’s driving UK politics in 2026, yesterday’s IfG Government 2026 conference really delivered. The line-up was seriously strong, with Wes Streeting kicking things off early with a keynote speech.

www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/event/govern...
Government 2026: IfG's annual conference | Institute for Government
The IfG brought together influential speakers and experts to explore the key questions for government in 2026.
www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk
January 14, 2026 at 11:59 AM
Reposted by Maria Laura La Corte
njdavies.bsky.social
Have you ever read the Public Services Performance Tracker published by @instituteforgovernment.org.uk? If so, we’d love to hear from you. We’re surveying readers to find out what is most useful and what we should prioritise next year. It will only take around 5 mins to complete
Performance Tracker Survey 2025/2026
Take this survey powered by surveymonkey.com. Create your own surveys for free.
www.surveymonkey.com
December 19, 2025 at 4:00 PM
marialaura-lacorte.bsky.social
In this week’s Week in Public Services, I look at resident doctor strikes, the new child poverty strategy, extra funding for domestic abuse support and what jury trial reforms would really do to court backlogs.

Some key takeaways below

medium.com/week-in-publ...
Week in Public Services: 19th December 2025
This week: Resident doctor strikes, the new child poverty strategy, extra funding for domestic abuse support and analysis showing jury…
medium.com
December 19, 2025 at 12:12 PM
Reposted by Maria Laura La Corte
cassiarowland.bsky.social
NEW: judge-alone trials would save just 2% of time in the Crown Court. In total, we estimate reforms to jury trials would save <10% of court time. Great write-up from @reporterrwright.ft.com here www.ft.com/content/8a9f...
Scrapping juries would save less than 10% of court time, according to research
Reforms aim to ease backlog of nearly 80,000 cases waiting to be heard in England and Wales
www.ft.com
December 18, 2025 at 9:17 AM
Reposted by Maria Laura La Corte
howesdaniel.bsky.social
1/ The latest ONS data on public sector employment shows that the civil service has grown (again).

After 2 consecutive quarters of plateauing growth, the CS grew in Q3 by 3490 (0.6%) to 520440 FTE. This is the highest quarterly increase since Labour came to power.

@instituteforgovernment.org.uk
A line chart from the Institute for Government showing the size of the civil service in full-time equivalent terms, from 2009 to 2025. The size decreases from 2009 to 2016, before increasing more or less continuously from then to now.
December 16, 2025 at 11:35 AM
Reposted by Maria Laura La Corte
meganisaac.bsky.social
1/ Earlier this month, the government indicated that it would postpone the inaugural May 2026 mayoral elections in four areas on the Devolution Priority Programme (DPP).

But what is the DPP? Why are these places getting mayors? And why are they undergoing local government reorganisation? 🧵
December 16, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Reposted by Maria Laura La Corte
meganbryer.bsky.social
Last week at @instituteforgovernment.org.uk, we published a new set of Ministers Reflect interviews with Sajid Javid, Simon Hart and Theresa Villiers.

My comment piece below explores the key lessons Starmer's govt can take from these reflections.

www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/less...
December 15, 2025 at 1:25 PM
Reposted by Maria Laura La Corte
njdavies.bsky.social
Given the govt's comittment to a) shift care from treatment to prevention and b) shift spending away from hospitals, its hard to justify the decision to keep spending on public health flat for the next three years when the NHS will see real terms spending growth
Prevention shift ‘left behind’ as budgets are held flat
Public health allocations are due to be held flat in real terms for three years, despite the government's intended "shift from treatment to prevention".
www.hsj.co.uk
December 12, 2025 at 8:17 AM
marialaura-lacorte.bsky.social
The @instituteforgovernment.org.uk’s Week in Public Services blog is back! This week I looked at the Budget’s place-based budget pilots, jury trial restrictions, and Ofsted’s concerns on children’s social care. Some thoughts below.

medium.com/week-in-publ...
Week in Public Services: 5th December 2025
This week: jury trial restrictions, place-based budgeting pilots, and warnings from Ofsted on the children’s social care market.
medium.com
December 5, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Reposted by Maria Laura La Corte
njdavies.bsky.social
NEW REPORT: abolishing NHS England could help simplify accountability, improve prioritisation and create savings. But the change could also lead to increases in policy incoherence and blame culture, as well as the loss of skills, capacity and focus on areas outside the day-to-day NHS.
Abolished to perfection? Building a better centre for the NHS | Institute for Government
The abolition of NHS England creates both risks and opportunities.
www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk
December 1, 2025 at 4:25 PM
Reposted by Maria Laura La Corte
cassiarowland.bsky.social
My latest on the gov's proposal to all-but abolish jury trials: a radical move that would leave us out-of-step with most democracies and increase the risk of miscarriages of justice. 🧵
www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/david-lammy-...
David Lammy’s proposals for judge-only trials would make England and Wales an outlier | Institute for Government
Most countries don’t use jury trials, but few rely on a single judge to pass both verdict and sentence
www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk
December 1, 2025 at 11:42 AM
Reposted by Maria Laura La Corte
shaina-sangha.bsky.social
As the covid inquiry gears up for Module 9 on economic policy, @gemmatetlow.bsky.social and I have a new @ukri.org-funded @instituteforgovernment.org.uk report out on Epi-econ modelling for pandemics. We set out why govt needs to invest now 1/🧵
www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publication/...
Combined epidemiological and economic modelling | Institute for Government
The pandemic showed the need for government to improve its use of modelling.
www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk
November 21, 2025 at 9:38 AM
Reposted by Maria Laura La Corte
njdavies.bsky.social
NEW: Labour inherited public services in crisis. Performance had fallen, investment had been cut + spending plans were undeliverable.

It's made some progress, providing stability and positive long-term plans. But it has been undermined by poor prep in opposition and lack of co-ordination in govt 🧵
RAG table showing ratings for 9 public services. It includes the following summaries for progress since the 2024 election: General practice - Progress on salaried GPs, but no steps taken to make partnership more attractive Hospitals - Government has set out high-level ambitions and reduced competing priorities, but no detail of implementation Adult social care - Largely ignored. Ending the care visa route without a workable solution for Fair Pay Agreements could cause workforce shortages Children's social care - Government has set out a clear and ambitious vision for reform and has backed it with relatively generous funding Homelessness - Early signs are encouraging, but government has yet to set out its homelessness strategy Schools - Government's plan to reduce inequalities in schools and tackle teacher shortages are unclear, and the crisis in SEND services casts a long shadow Police - Government has made limited progress in increasing neighbourhood officer numbers and has yet to announce details of planned reforms Criminal Courts - Increasing court sitting days was welcome, if done too late, but the government has yet to announce a longer-term plan Prisons - Rapid action addressed the immediate population crisis, but there has been limited progress towards a longer-term solution
November 19, 2025 at 7:03 AM
marialaura-lacorte.bsky.social
The NHS section of Performance Tracker 2025 by @stuarthoddinott.bsky.social is live on the @instituteforgovernment.org.uk's website, with new analysis on general practice and hospital performance in England.

www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publication/...
Performance Tracker 2025: NHS | Institute for Government
NHS performance is improving, but a complex and haphazardly planned reform package might slow progress.
www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk
November 17, 2025 at 10:43 AM
Reposted by Maria Laura La Corte
instituteforgovernment.org.uk
In two weeks' time, Rachel Reeves will deliver her second budget as chancellor.

Join us online on 26 November for our instant reaction to the chancellor's plan for the economy - with @danhaile.bsky.social @jillongovt.bsky.social @gilesyb.bsky.social www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/event/autumn...
November 12, 2025 at 11:59 AM
Reposted by Maria Laura La Corte
cassiarowland.bsky.social
Can’t quite believe I’m saying this but: more funding *for these services* isn’t how I’d fix criminal justice! Probation & courts 100% need more money, but big increases are already planned. I’d focus on drivers: housing, substance misuse, lack of opportunities, behavioural/speech & language issues
cjayanetti.bsky.social Chaminda Jayanetti @cjayanetti.bsky.social · Nov 10
- significant funding increase for police, the courts, probation and the prison service
- action to lower energy costs (this looks like happening)
- more tax powers for councils so they can increase their own spending power on local amenities etc (poorer areas are already destined for more funding)
November 10, 2025 at 6:15 PM
Reposted by Maria Laura La Corte
amberdellar.bsky.social
NEW REPORT Labour is struggling to meet its education priorities. It has big ambitions to improve schools, but a budget that falls short of matching them. And with no clear plans to reform the SEND system or tackle workforce shortages, children are being left without the support they need.
Performance Tracker 2025: Schools | Institute for Government
It will be extremely difficult for the government to meet its education priorities within the budget it has set for the coming parliament.
www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk
November 6, 2025 at 9:57 AM
Reposted by Maria Laura La Corte
cassiarowland.bsky.social
New comment from me on the mistaken release of Hadush Kebatu: this error reflects much broader problems within prisons and across the criminal justice system
www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/pris...
The mistaken release of Hadush Kebatu is a symptom of a failing system | Institute for Government
The problems in criminal justice run far deeper than one high-profile error.
www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk
October 28, 2025 at 4:01 PM
marialaura-lacorte.bsky.social
Really pleased to have contributed to the new criminal justice section of Performance Tracker 2025, now live on the @instituteforgovernment.org.uk’s website. It brings together new analysis on police, criminal courts and prisons. Some thoughts below. www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publication/...
Performance Tracker 2025: Criminal justice system | Institute for Government
The government must act to avoid the justice system returning to the crisis point seen when Labour entered office, or worse.
www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk
October 23, 2025 at 9:33 AM
Reposted by Maria Laura La Corte
njdavies.bsky.social
Labour inherited public services in crisis. How successfully have they addressed these problems since the election? Join @stuarthoddinott.bsky.social, @cassiarowland.bsky.social, @amberdellar.bsky.social & @stephenkb.bsky.social on 19/11 to find out
www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/event/labour...
October 22, 2025 at 11:02 AM
marialaura-lacorte.bsky.social
Kicking off this year’s Performance Tracker 2025, Part 1 from the @instituteforgovernment.org.uk looks at how local government, social care and homelessness services are performing.

Great job @stuarthoddinott.bsky.social & @amberdellar.bsky.social!
instituteforgovernment.org.uk Institute for Government @instituteforgovernment.org.uk · Oct 15
[NEW] How does the quality of local government services vary across the country – and what is driving performance?

The first instalment of our Public Services Performance Tracker 2025 with @nuffieldfoundation.org is out now🚨👇 www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publication/...
October 17, 2025 at 11:00 AM
Reposted by Maria Laura La Corte
njdavies.bsky.social
NEW: @instituteforgovernment.org.uk have published pt1 of Public Services Performance Tracker 2025 covering local government finances and overall performance, adult social care, children's social care and homelessness

Incredible work by @stuarthoddinott.bsky.social & @amberdellar.bsky.social
Public Services Performance Tracker 2025 | Institute for Government
Labour’s public service plans are less than the sum of their parts.
www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk
October 15, 2025 at 6:04 PM