In conversation with Rt Hon James Murray MP, Chief Secretary to the Treasury: How will the government boost public service productivity?

Improving productivity is at the heart of the government’s plans for public services, underpins the ‘strategic and agile state’ and is a critical enabler for many of its ambitions for the future. The Chief Secretary to the Treasury has been drawing on experience from the public and private sector to make sure the 2027 spending review consolidates and furthers the government’s productivity drive. This builds on the work already underway within the government through the Office for Value for Money and its departmental target of 2% productivity, efficiencies and savings. But what has the government achieved so far? How is HM Treasury supporting productivity improvements across government and monitoring departmental efficiency plans? What is the Chief Secretary doing to push this agenda on? To explore these questions and to discuss his priorities and approach, the Institute for Government was pleased to be hosting Rt Hon James Murray MP, Chief Secretary to the Treasury. Professor Andy Westwood, Policy Director at The Productivity Institute made opening remarks. James Murray was then in conversation with Dr Hannah White, Director and CEO of the Institute for Government. This event was kindly supported by The Productivity Institute (TPI). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You can listen to In conversation with Rt Hon James Murray MP, Chief Secretary to the Treasury: How will the government boost public service productivity? online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

In conversation with Rt Hon James Murray MP, Chief Secretary to the Treasury: How will the government boost public service productivity? is an episode from IfG LIVE – Discussions with the Institute for Government by Podmasters.

This episode is 58:39 long.

This episode was published on Apr 20, 2026.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from IfG LIVE – Discussions with the Institute for Government when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.