Our key takeaways from UKGovCamp 2025

[Andy] As someone new to GovCamp, it’s hard to capture quite how great the culture and environment is. We often ignore the conditions needed at events like this to make them a success, but GovCamp has done an incredible job of nurturing psychological safety and moments of playfulness that enable an environment for open and challenging conversations. It was like bringing together a diverse group of critical friends - with everyone genuinely listening and learning from one another and sharing their experiences and wisdom.

While digital and technology naturally threaded through many sessions, our conversations kept pushing past the obvious tech solutions to dig into the deeper stuff - the cultural shifts, philosophies and systemic changes needed to drive meaningful change.

[Ellie] What makes GovCamp unique is that it's a group of people who care enough to give up their Saturday to come and talk about making public services better. This creates a feeling that you're amongst friends who all care about striving to achieve the same outcomes. We might not be doing the same things in the same way, but we want the same things to get better - so we can support one another in overcoming these challenges.

The organisers of GovCamp constantly gather feedback and iterate each year, like introducing a funded crèche, which opens it up to so many more people who might not ordinarily be able to come. Before you even walk in the door, a sense of shared togetherness and purpose sets the tone for the entire day.

Key themes and conversations

Complexity in public services

A central theme that emerged across several sessions was the cyclical and complex nature of public sector challenges. We spent time discussing how to make reality-based decisions that reflect how interconnected these problems are. There was widespread recognition that many government challenges can't be solved through linear or mechanistic methods - we need to ground our work in systemic and complexity-aware approaches (even if this language wasn’t used explicitly).

On reflection, there’s a space we need to navigate between the ambitious visions and outcomes that help us tell a story people can get behind, and the realities of what we’re dealing with today. For me, this is about starting small, iterating, and finding the stepping stones together, and it was great to hear those themes emerge in several sessions.

Policy meets delivery

During one session, we explored how policy and delivery roles can work more closely together. It became clear that it's less about job titles or skillsets, and more about mindset - being open to insight and taking a sense and respond, test and learn approach.

What emerged was an interesting contrast in working cultures. While it's common to see people in digital roles blogging openly with weeknotes or Bluesky, that same culture of sharing doesn't necessarily exist in policy spaces in quite the same way (or perhaps we’re not looking in the right places). We explored whether this comes down to different incentives or different norms, and how we might bridge that gap.

There was a strong recognition that you can't simply drag one discipline towards the other - there needs to be more of a meeting in the middle to learn from one another and take a more pluralistic approach. This has the potential to be really exciting - by bringing together different ways of looking at a challenge, and different toolkits of approaches and solutions, we have an opportunity to create new ways of collaborating that make us greater than the sum of our parts and enable us to get further than we could in siloes.

Transformation - a dirty word?

"Digital transformation" emerged as an increasingly contentious term throughout the day. Many questioned why we're still using it, with suggestions to drop "digital" entirely. Instead of seeing transformation as a destination, the conversations reframed it as an ongoing journey that needs iterative, adaptive change. There were discussions about whether the caterpillar-to-butterfly analogy actually helps or not. It alludes to an end point but in reality, it’s still evolving. Perhaps talk of ‘transformation’ sets us up for failure because it sets that expectation of an endpoint, a ‘ta-da!’ moment, that undermines the power of iterative change and continuous learning.

One of the most interesting perspectives came from an ex-zoologist who introduced the concept of "punctuated equilibrium" - suggesting that progress happens in bursts rather than as a continuous process. As part of this, there were also discussions about the need for greater technology literacy in leadership - so the recent announcement necessitating this will be music to many ears.

Future roles, talent, culture and collaboration

Another engaging discussion focused on exploring what roles, skills and cultures we'll need for the future of government. We grappled with some important questions: How can we attract and retain diverse talent? How do we empower teams and create environments where people can flourish?

These questions led to a general consensus - breaking down silos and fostering collaboration across different sectors, providing safe space to get the work done without the prohibiting red tape being crucial for unlocking new possibilities and driving meaningful change.

There were some really lovely and reflective moments in this session, which touched on the values and behaviours we thought a future public sector would need. There was a lot of alignment in the group around things like empathy, curiosity, and taking a human approach to leadership that helps create the best conditions for creativity and change. It was a really optimistic session, and a great opportunity to imagine a better future.

Procurement and systems barriers

The frustrations around procurement processes, budgets and legacy systems were impossible to ignore. Throughout the sessions, people shared their experiences of these barriers and called for more flexible, innovative approaches - ones that reflect the realities of modern government and the complexities of public service delivery.

The National Data Library discussion

A session led by Gavin Freeguard sparked rich and varied debates about what a national data library could and should be. We explored multiple possibilities: Could it be an extension of ONS's integrated data service? A tool focused on data literacy? Or something closer to a traditional public library, helping people find information and learn?

Rather than pushing for one big solution, we found ourselves exploring whether we could scale through diffusion - connecting and sharing good practices that already exist. While everyone in the room brought different viewpoints and deep investment in the idea, there was a shared recognition that whatever shape it takes, we need to think carefully about the most effective pathway to get there.

It was great to hear so many different perspectives and examples in the room - my biggest takeaway was that we should continue having this collaborative, multidisciplinary discussion in the most open forums we can bear. There’s an engaged and committed community ready to help ensure a National Data Library realises some of these possibilities, and opening that conversation up might help create the space for something transformative (dare I say it!).

Mission-led Government and Systems Approaches

There was a lot of excitement about the potential of mission-led government and the opportunity to break down siloed approaches. But alongside this, some frustration emerged that this vision hasn't materialised yet.

While acknowledging that systems change takes time and that progress won't happen overnight, there was recognition that with new leaders now being appointed, the focus will need to shift towards creating the right conditions for meaningful cross-collaboration.

There was reference to some leaders taking a portfolio approach to change. Camden Council was highlighted as a good example of this already happening and successfully doing things differently - and getting better outcomes.

Big questions, better questions

We both loved the session on asking better questions. In an environment dominated by complexity, the quality of the questions we ask, when and how we ask them often determines the outcomes. It sparked an interesting discussion about how the public sector sometimes feels like it's going in circles, and how we might break through repetitive patterns.

After the event, I looked back over past years’ sessions (with a bit of help from Claude) to test this theory. It was interesting to see that whilst we’ve returned to key topics many times, the ways we’re approaching them have shifted. More recent years have been more focused on how to create the space, culture and conditions for the kinds of change we see as necessary or the kinds of approaches we think will unblock gnarly problems, or we’ve seen work in similar contexts elsewhere. I think that’s really positive because it means we’re thinking about how to include a wider community, how to bring disciplines together, and how to meet people where they are today.

A huge thank you to the organisers and everyone who came together to make UKGovCamp such a special event.

See you next year!