Thread by @jillongovt

Intriguing choice of muzak while waiting for Michael Gove to unveil lessons form the pandemic.... may feel obliged to live tweet... (there was applause at one stage...) can you really be this late for an online speech? Maybe Lindsay Hoyle has summoned him?

v interesting that this is being hosted by Smarter Govt Commission (but smart does not extend to being on time..). Nick Herbert refers to bold Ditchley speech last year (I thought it was a bit of a non-event..) . Yippee Q and A...

Gove - opening - this is one of those times when need for reform more evident.. made strengths and weaknesses made more vivid... Lots of wartime parallels here (Johnson as Attlee??? new one that)

we are now back to 19th century and Northcote Trevelyan.. @cath_haddon will be marking this part..

We are now going through the wartime Cabinet showing creativity and flexibility to solve problems - plus lots of domestic reforms under war coalition and now Attlee... 4 crucial lessons..

1. crises reveal .... remorseless judgment and reveal what works and what buckles under pressure....
2. crises spur innovation... have to overturn ossified structures.... bring in external expertise..

3. shared sacrifice means obligation to Build back better .. no going back ..
4. advance of science and tech generates new opps and higher expectations..

all these now hold for covid.. a bit of compare and contrast now between covid hits and misses.... weaknesses exacerbated health inequalities; showed confused accountabilities and incentives; structures of PHE and CO own coordinating functions...

but can't wait for public inquiry.... govt has to become more open and porous (first Kate Bingham) .. new structures.. digi dashboards superseded submissions and accompanying inertia...

Big imperative for reform to deal with backlogs in NHS.. education reform to make up for lost learning .. and action on housing.. ec opportunity etc...

more on science and tech gains from pandemic..... all these factors mean govt now determined to deepen and accelerate reform.... (now back to Ditchley .. )

Brexit creates new opps but also new demands - and removed an excuse for ministerial inaction (I agree with this bit....) ... covid has intensified need to go further... new declaration.. now list of relocations under way....

not convinced this is really a dispersion of decision-making... but MG now shouts out to mayors... (but does not follow through with more on devolution...)

now on core skills and specialist expertise.. and new talent from wider range of backgrounds... (well, we will see..). Stress on collaborative working.. v diff from "hard rain" language.... shared frustrations between ministers and civil servants..

Cabinet Ministers and Perm Secs met to approve declaration... now on more mutual understanding with devolveds.. open up to more talent (wider professions as well as backgrounds.. ).

Mustn't allow Greensill to rebuild walls and keep out those who can counter groupthink.... now trying to counter ideas that his non-execs are all Con donors.... restricting openness "retrograde and blinkered"

So lots more secondments... make Whitehall an "open marketplace for ideas" -- really .. don get the impression this is a Cabinet that embraces challenges..

perm secs will be liberated to deliver... and tools to deal with poor performance (if this really happens that would be really good..) .. now promise of better ministers.. training programme and new evaluation task force (good and good)

end sugar rush announcements (this would be very good.... but has he told No.10..)?

now onto reshaping structures.. citizen has to navigate a "disaggregated landscape" - build govt around the individual.. (Oh dear .. now he is lauding .gov.uk - the worst development for govt accountability of past decade.. that is me not him.)

single digital sign up... more govt as platform like Uber/Amazon .. understand its user...call out to Maude functional agenda .. need to reduce duplication in conjunction with HMT (Sunak, Barclay and Cat Little.... DG Public Spending..)

more data sharing across govt.. enable more effective delivery .. critical to understanding levelling up.. (true govt has v bad data on this....)

Focus on specific suite of reforms.. see signal not noise.. (well sounds better than targetting acc political gain rather than policy potential..)

more on working across dept borders (return of Fusion..) single minister and lead official with a single budget and a fixed deadline for delivery .. influenced by Smarter Govt and X(O) - Brexit delivery cttee... and covid response...

Gove now says he is sure there will be some criticism and cynicism... hopes for lots of tough scrutiny.. should ask "why minister" not say "yes minister" -- def agree with that.......................

all this just the beginning.. need to widen dialogue on reform..... mission for Gove, Case and Chisholm.... (not the most diverse grouping ever seen.. ) - now lets see if hybrid events work...

first question on class from Daily Mail...... Gove refers to Social Mobility Commission report... need to look at application process and "codes" which act as a barrier... see prev tweet re reform leaders..

Points to Brexit delivery as model of new accountabilities... Gove had to go to multiple committees.. KPIs for x-dept taskforces...

Gove is right that the civil service has not offered ministers decent alternatives to tedious meetings..

new on public reluctance to share data, Gove argues govt needs to win the argument and convince people of the benefits.

Media now doing what it does.. asking questions about the news not the speech.. @ChrisMasonBBC off on lockdowns and Aussie trade deal...

@ChrisMasonBBC Guardian asking if ministers can veto senior civil service appointments.. Gove _ Ministers need to be involved in job spec.. but ministers will be presented with appointable candidates -look at all of these and then choose; admits this is greater involvement

@ChrisMasonBBC Follow up - lot of turmoil in Whitehall and briefings vs Sedwill/Rutnam? how will you stamp that out.... "instead of hard rain, sunshine should rule the day"...

Thanks to @michaelgove for saying civil servants should stand up more and tell ministers when their plans are undeliverable.... (my question... )

@michaelgove Closing - Nick Herbert points to presence of Cab Sec Simon Case and COO Alex Chisholm... as sign of ministerial/official unity for reform...