Despite reports of its demise, the 1% cap on pay increases remains in place across the UK government civil service. As workers across the public sector, including the Scottish Government, get cap-busting awards, it is time for the limit to end for all public servants

External evidence and expertise is crucial to good policy making – a new report from the Institute for Government sets out how Whitehall can use it better

The Windrush scandal again shows the need for government to address departmental culture. Companies focused on customer service can help provide the answer

Government faces constant contradictions in public expectations – and nowhere more so than the Home Office. A more honest discussion might help us learn the lessons of Windrush

Mental health first aid can save lives and support better mental wellbeing, but it’s not just a case of training staff and hoping for the best. Kath Cheer and Paul Horsman advise on building structures that help mental health first aiders to support their colleagues

Amber Rudd’s decision to resign comes as no surprise, but the full picture of accountability for Windrush is much more complex

Politicians work within a hierarchical system where they are arbiters of their own fate – but the hierarchy itself can provide a solution to the harassment problem

Despite Whitehall’s global reputation for integrity, it can still learn from a developing country civil service survey

Ahead of next week’s Sprint 18 event, GDS director general Kevin Cunnington outlines the organisation’s focus areas for the coming months, and its achievements of the past two years

Many internationally lauded ideas for improving how government work have come from the UK – but even when they are copied many in the civil service view central reforming units like the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit to the Government Digital Service as irritants. This should change, says Andrew Greenway

There can often be a daunting space between policy development and delivery in government – a space where policy ideas can be undermined as they move from one team to another. Here are Infrastructure and Projects Authority chief executive Tony Meggs’s top tips for closing it

It is easy for politicians to blame immigration officers and other civil servants tasked with implementing immigration rules and regulations. But to do so unfairly distracts from the all but inevitable outcome of reducing the number of staff properly employed and trained to enforce immigration law

Companies will fail, but that doesn’t mean we must abandon outsourcing entirely – it’s a matter of picking the right circumstances, says Bronwen Maddox

The sacking of Nick Hardwick as chair of the Parole Board has raised questions about the future of the body – including how ministers will be able to find a successor, says Suzannah Brecknell

The UK government needs to set out proposals – not just send negotiators – to make progress on post-Brexit trade, says the Institute for Government’s Jill Rutter

This year, the UK hosted the first International Public Fraud Symposiom. Mark Cheeseman, deputy director, public sector fraud at the Cabinet Office, explains how the event came about, and what his team learnt from their international colleagues

David Gauke’s dismissal of the head of the Parole Board following the John Worboys case raises questions about how the relationship between the board and the department will work in future

The departure of the director of public prosecutions is just one example where public servants have faced scrutiny from a hostile media. It is time ministers had the courage to challenge unwarranted media attacks

Transferring data policy to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport is a welcome move, but the government needs to be clear about what it wants to do with all this data

It’s too early to say if shared services are coming of age or another false dawn. But I’d probably keep the champagne in the fridge for now

Civil servants have a vital role in government so they must be honest enough to face up to their own fears and failings, says Claire Foster Gilbert

Whitehall accountability is focused on blame and governed by convention – but improvements are possible

In Patrick Wright’s Foreign Office memoirs Tom Fletcher finds moments that resonate across the decades – and some that don’t

How far are the massive changes brought on by Brexit accelerating the reversal of 1990s decentralisation, and will they usher in a more centralised machinery of government in the long term?