Civil service organisations must be agile to succeed – but they’re bound in chains of hierarchy and deference, argues Robin Ryde

Sailing into uncharted waters, the civil service has no rules on how to help the coalition parties prepare for an election.

After several bruising years, civil servants need the support and funds to achieve ministers’ goals – or the recovery could prompt an exodus 

Too many organisational cultures push clever people into doing daft things. The solutions start at the top.

Education can help improve social equality, says Alison Wride – but only if the universities radically change their approach to recruiting and teaching students

The international development department does great work, says Diana Good – but must improve staff training in order to get better still

HS2 is an intelligent response to Britain’s daft economy

Highways Agency chief Graham Dalton is wrong to argue that his organisation should become a company, argues Mark Dollar

PPM staff lack a coherent profession; they require one, argues Matt Ross, editor of Civil Service World.

Outsourcing is here to stay, argues Tony Travers (pictured): the civil service needs the skills to manage providers and to foster competitive markets.

The UK hasn’t had an EU policy for years, but civil servants still have a duty to fight for our interests in Brussels, argues Sir Andrew Cahn (pictured). 

The Cabinet Office mustn’t let its support work tip over into control, says Rob Whiteman of CIPFA

The MoD’s procurement reform offensive has suffered a heavy defeat. John Louth considers the prospects of a successful counter-attack

A leaked review of the Department for Education (DfE) sets out plans to cut about 1000 jobs, introduce a project team-based structure, focus work on “ministerial priorities” and radically reduce office space.

“Not until I came to Whitehall did I learn that the country was run by two men, neither of whom I had ever heard of”, said Lord Victor Rothschild of his 1970 meeting with Sir Burke Trend and Sir William Armstrong, secretary to the cabinet and head of the home civil service respectively. But increasingly lurid attention from The Daily Telegraph, The Times and the Daily Mail, along with their Sunday siblings, is making sure that latter day grandees will have no such ignorance as to the name and power of the cabinet secretary since January this year, Sir Jeremy Heywood.

Now new permanent secretary Jon Thompson has his feet well under the table at the Ministry of Defence, he will be on the receiving end of a lot of good – and not so good – advice. I can offer a few thoughts about how the momentum of reform can best be maintained in a high-tempo department characterised by its preponderance of alpha personalities and diversity of vested interests.