Influencing UK Government and Policy: Get Your Voice Heard

The UK government spends billions every year and makes decisions that shape the public and third sectors - decisions that can determine the success or failure of entire organisations. Getting your voice heard in government is not just beneficial it’s essential.

Influencing UK Government and Policy: Get Your Voice Heard demystifies how power flows through Whitehall and Parliament, giving you the tools to engage with confidence and impact. Through real-world insights, practical strategies, and expert guidance, this course empowers participants to influence decision-makers, navigate formal and informal systems, and ensure their organisation’s priorities resonate where it matters most.

This course provides essential insights into how government operates and equips delegates with tools to engage effectively with decision-makers. Participants will gain an understanding of the structure of government, its relationship with parliament, and the development of policy across Whitehall.

We will cover the formal and informal aspects of working with government, while learning about the pressures and incentives faced by ministers and civil servants. Through practical strategies and influencing techniques, participants will enhance their ability to make impactful interventions, target the right people, and maximize their engagement with government for their organisation or themselves.

Key Training Features:

  • Understand the structure of government, and its relationship to parliament.
  • Understand how business gets done in government and how policy is developed across Whitehall.
  • Understand the incentives and pressures faced by ministers and civil servants.
  • Appreciate the formal and informal aspects of working with government.
  • Have skills and tools to make the most of contact with government.

Who Can Attend:

Anyone who wants to understand how government makes decisions, and to get their own or their organisation’s voice heard in the corridors of power.

Learning Outcomes:

  • Participants will get a good understanding of how Whitehall and the Civil Service operates from a formal and informal point of view, and understand the key points at which to make interventions for maximum effect.
  • Participants will learn who to target, when, and how.
  • Participants will have a good understanding of the different rules and responsibilities for civil servants, ministers and special advisors. 
  • Participants will earn basic influencing strategies to maximise their impact.

Summary

Duration

10:00 - 16:00

Price

Available to be delivered In-House. Contact us for a quotation.

Location

Face to Face or Virtual

In-House Option

This course is available In-House and can be tailored to meet your individual training requirements.

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Lead Trainer

Thomas Foster

Thomas Foster

Thomas Foster joined the UK Civil Service as a Fast Streamer in 2009, gaining first-hand experience of the coalition negotiations that followed the general election. He subsequently contributed to the emergency Spending Review and worked on the design of major government programmes, including the Work Programme and Universal Credit.

Read Bio
Thomas Foster

Thomas Foster

Thomas Foster joined the Civil Service as a Fast Streamer in autumn 2009, in time for an inside view of the first peacetime coalition negotiations for almost a century. He participated in the subsequent emergency Spending Review and went on to play a role in designing the incoming government’s flagship Work Programme and Universal Credit policies. Later, he moved into areas as diverse as financial regulation and designing new financial instruments for private‑sector investors, and, at the other extreme, frontline management in a Jobcentre in one of the most deprived wards in London.

In 2015, he joined the Department for Transport, where he built and ran a public and parliamentary communications team for the rail franchising programme. This period oversaw one of the most active and controversial phases in the twenty‑year history of privatised rail. He then moved into a policy and regulatory role as Deputy Head of Local Transport, where he oversaw one of the biggest open data projects in UK government history, as well as a widespread review of the future of regulation in the taxi and private hire sector. Since 2020, Thomas has worked full‑time as a coach, trainer, and consultant.

Prior to joining the Civil Service, Thomas attended law school in York, studied Politics and Contemporary History at university, and worked in a variety of private‑sector roles, including executive search and recruitment for UK‑based financial services companies.

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Civil Service College can deliver In-House training within your organisation that is exactly tailored to meet your individual training requirements.

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