Drop the excuses culture. Stop complaining about civil servants and just get it right the first time, rather than repeatedly U-turning.

West Streeting did not hold back at the RFG conference this week.

So what does the health secretary's verdict on the government say about Kirstama and the challenge is he and his minister's face in

26. I'm Hannah White and this is Inside Briefing, the podcast from the Institute for Government.

West Streeting was the headline speaker at our annual conference at the IFG this Tuesday,

but he was just one of many names. We had Mel Stride, Darren Jones, Louise Casey,

Andy Burnham, Michael Gove, Aisha Hazareka and Ed Balls all joining us to discuss what government

is doing right, what it's getting wrong, and what it needs to do differently. We're going

to bring you the best this week of a fascinating headline-making and thought-provoking day. The performance of the

civil service was a theme that occurred throughout the conference. What does rewiring the state

really mean? Is it even happening? What are the reforms that Whitehall really needs? Well,

this week also saw the publication of the IFG's annual Whitehall Monitor, our flagship stocktake

of the size, shape and performance

of the civil service. It's packed with data and analysis and some fantastic charts.

And its lead author will be telling us all about it. Joining me now, fresh from our conference

and so no doubt fizzing with new ideas, our programme director Tim Durant, who leads our ministers

program. Hi, Anna.

Associate Director and lead author of Whitehall Monitor, Hannah Keenan, and Ben Paxton,

senior researcher on our public finances team. Hello, all.

Hi, hello.

So let's start the podcast as we started our conference, and that's with Wes Streeting.

The Health Secretary found himself in the headlines late last year after being

...