What are the challenges of being an effective minister?

About this event

On 24 May the Institute for Government held an event to mark the publication of our new report, 'The Challenge of Being an Effective Minister: defining and developing ministerial effectiveness'. 

Being a minister in today's 24/7 world is more demanding than ever before. We have investigated what it takes to be an effective minister and how ministers and aspiring ministers could be better prepared for the challenges they will face.

A panel discussed the findings and recommendations from this latest research.

The panel

• Lord (Michael) Heseltine - former Deputy Prime Minister and First Secretary of State (1995-97)
• Lord (David) Sainsbury - former Minister for Science and Innovation (1998 – 2006)
• Peter Riddell - report co-author and Senior Fellow, Institute for Government
• Zoe Gruhn - report co-author and Director of Leadership Development, Institute for Government.

The event was chaired by Lord (Andrew) Adonis, Director of the Institute for Government and former Secretary of State for Transport (2009-10) and Minister for Schools (2008-09).

More information

• Watch a video of this event (YouTube, 37m:30s)
• Listen to a podcast of this event (MP3, 1h:29m)
• Read the report: The Challenge of Being a Minister
• Read our summary and recommendations paper
• Read more about the Institute's ministerial development work