Explainers
Our explainers cover key subjects relating to our work, setting out key facts and figures and answering the most important questions about government.
Explore our explainers
Coronavirus: government support for individuals during the first lockdown
Following the March 2020 lockdown, the government put in place a series of financial measures to mitigate the short-term effects of the restrictions.
Government spending: how does parliament approve it?
The government lays out its principal financial plans for the year in the budget.
Hotel quarantine
Hotel quarantine for new arrivals has been introduced to “reduce the risk of a new strain of the virus entering the UK”.
Andrew Murrison
Andrew Murrison discusses the particularities of the Ministry of Defense and the Northern Ireland Office.
Civil Service Code
The Civil Service Code outlines the values and standards of behaviour that civil servants are expected to follow.
The cost of coronavirus
There are many costs associated with the coronavirus pandemic, not least the lives lost as a result.
Coronavirus vaccine rollout
The vaccine rollout is the responsibility of the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).
Nick Hurd
Nick Hurd reflects on his experience working in five departments, for three prime ministers, over nearly a decade.
Lord Duncan
Lord Duncan of Springbank was interviewed on 8 January 2021 for the Institute for Government’s Ministers Reflect project.
Margot James
Margot James reflects on serving in a government with a small parliamentary majority and during the political turmoil of exiting the European Union.