With a new government in place, a policy refresh is on the horizon. But poor institutional memory and failure to learn from other countries’ experiences can lead to policy failures and substandard outcomes.

In our new event series, we look at successful policies from around the world that have made good things happen. From the rollout of heat pumps in Sweden to public service leadership and governance in Singapore, we’re gathering global experts to learn about successful policy interventions that have moved the dial on big social issues and explore how they might be applicable in the UK. 

Here’s what we’ve learnt so far on how to make good things happen around the world:

• England’s teenage pregnancy strategy: this session explored how strategic interventions can dramatically improve public health outcomes. Moira Wallace, who led the Social Exclusion Unit’s original strategy, joined us to reflect on its success in reducing teenage pregnancy rates and the broader lessons for public health campaigns.
• England’s Sure Start: we were joined by the first director of Sure Start to examine this early intervention programme and uncover insights into designing and delivering impactful services for children and families.
• Sweden’s heat pumps: with a high adoption rate of heat pumps, Sweden has demonstrated how targeted policies and incentives can drive decarbonisation in heating systems. A panel of experts from industry, policy and research joined us to deep dive into Sweden’s approach and how it might be adopted elsewhere.
• Singapore’s approach to governance and public service leadership: we heard from report authors from BIT to find out how Singapore’s effective public service model, policy design and long-term scenario planning could be applied to the UK government.
• The UK's furlough scheme: we heard from the scheme's inventor, Tim Leunig, on how the scheme successfully protected 3.25 million jobs and enabled the economy to restart after COVID-19 restrictions through robust data and astute design. We explored how crucial well-designed interventions are and how it can be adapted to different contexts.
• Amsterdam's approach to solving the childhood obesity crisis: with Amsterdam’s city government leading one of the longest-running, well-funded childhood obesity reduction programmes globally, we explored their systemic approach to improving child health outcomes. A panel of experts unpacked key takeaways for the UK, including balancing prevention and treatment, targeting environments with impactful interventions, and embedding solutions into municipal policy.

Find out more in our insights reports below.

More events in the series are to be announced.

If you are interested in our upcoming events and want more information, contact us: at [email protected].