Rewiring the state: Reflections on how to unlock government transformation
Mon Nov 17 2025
The UK government has set the directive for a “complete rewiring of the British state to deliver bold and ambitious long-term reform”. It says that a “digital revolution” will underpin the move to a more “agile, effective and active state”, focused on delivering its missions: growing the economy, an NHS fit for the future, safer streets, opportunity for all, and making Britain a clean energy superpower. It is also essential to simplifying how citizens interact with government to access more joined-up services.
A new Global Government Forum study – which was led by Lord Gus O’Donnell and based on in-depth interviews with 12 UK permanent secretaries – pinpoints the barriers and enablers to transformation in government, with a particular emphasis on the role of digital technologies and data, and identifies four priority areas as key opportunities to accelerate change.
In this podcast, Lord O’Donnell sets out the findings of the report with former senior civil servant and GGF’s global event and webinar chairperson, Siobhan Benita, along with their guests Yatin Mahandru, vice president, head of public sector and health, Cognizant UK & Ireland, and Faye Holt, director, UK public sector, Amazon Web Services – whose organisations were knowledge partners for the report.
Together, they discuss the key findings from the interviews with permanent secretaries, covering:
The role of leadership in driving change.How to build capacity in government for digital transformation.How to unlock the power of data and AI.
Listen to this episode to get insights from government leaders on the opportunity for government transformation – and unique reflections from the experts featured in this podcast on how to make change happen.
Read the Rewiring the State report here.
This podcast is based on a Global Government Forum webinar, held on 4 November.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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The UK government has set the directive for a “complete rewiring of the British state to deliver bold and ambitious long-term reform”. It says that a “digital revolution” will underpin the move to a more “agile, effective and active state”, focused on delivering its missions: growing the economy, an NHS fit for the future, safer streets, opportunity for all, and making Britain a clean energy superpower. It is also essential to simplifying how citizens interact with government to access more joined-up services. A new Global Government Forum study – which was led by Lord Gus O’Donnell and based on in-depth interviews with 12 UK permanent secretaries – pinpoints the barriers and enablers to transformation in government, with a particular emphasis on the role of digital technologies and data, and identifies four priority areas as key opportunities to accelerate change. In this podcast, Lord O’Donnell sets out the findings of the report with former senior civil servant and GGF’s global event and webinar chairperson, Siobhan Benita, along with their guests Yatin Mahandru, vice president, head of public sector and health, Cognizant UK & Ireland, and Faye Holt, director, UK public sector, Amazon Web Services – whose organisations were knowledge partners for the report. Together, they discuss the key findings from the interviews with permanent secretaries, covering: The role of leadership in driving change.How to build capacity in government for digital transformation.How to unlock the power of data and AI. Listen to this episode to get insights from government leaders on the opportunity for government transformation – and unique reflections from the experts featured in this podcast on how to make change happen. Read the Rewiring the State report here. This podcast is based on a Global Government Forum webinar, held on 4 November. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.