With the end of 2015 in sight, we asked Whitehall's top officials to review the year, set out their priorities for 2016 – and shed some light on their festive plans. Alex Aiken, executive director of government communications, kicks off our perm secs round-up series...

After a few months in post, Graham Hooper tells Jess Bowie about his organisation’s work supporting civil servants in need, and outlines his plans for the future of the charity

Civil Service World's regular guide to the very best in Whitehallese

Ministers often criticise civil servants for not understanding the workings of Westminster. So what can officials do to ensure that parliament doesn’t leave them baffled? Sarah Aston reports

After years of shrinking departmental budgets, how can civil servants rise to the further challenge of the 2015 Spending Review? Jess Wilkins reports from a CSW round table which sought to address that very question

Private sector providers can play an important role in realising the government’s One HMG Overseas approach to conflict stabilisation

The Department for Business, Innovation & Skills may be facing a tough Spending Review settlement, but permanent secretary Martin Donnelly tells Matt Foster that the “honest and open” culture at BIS will endure – whatever the chancellor decides

Cyber security apprentices from government to join apprentices from BT at networking and training event later this month

Civil Service World's regular guide to the very best in Whitehallese

When Army 2020 was announced in 2012, it represented one of the biggest structural reforms to the British Army in decades. A key plank of the scheme – itself part of the larger Future Force 2020 programme – has been to cut the number of regulars from 102,000 to 82,000 by 2018, and to make up the shortfall with reservists. The programme’s recruitment problems have been well publicised in the past, but, in 2015, is it any closer to ‘mission accomplished’? Colin Marrs reports

With the ‘low-hanging fruit’ exhausted, the public sector must approach new government saving targets with a radically different attitude, says AECOM

BT's Ian Dalton shares his insights on the role that SMEs can play in transforming public services

New survey by cloud company iomart reveals 77% of Local Government Unaware of G-Cloud 

Major projects in focus: As HMRC calls time on Aspire, the government’s largest IT contract, Matt Foster finds that the tax authority is opting for evolution over revolution – and trying to sharpen its own digital skills

Sir Jeremy Heywood has been at the centre of power in Britain for longer than any prime minister. In a wide-ranging interview, Jess Bowie asks the cabinet secretary and head of the civil service about budget cuts, Whitehall pay, the Chilcot Inquiry – and whether he ever feels like throwing it all in

The controversial privatisation of probation services is no “omnishambles”, interim chief inspector Paul Wilson tells Sarah Aston. But he does worry that resource pressures could lead to a repeat of the Daniel Sonnex tragedy

There's no doubting how frantic and all-consuming Jeremy Corbyn will have found his first few weeks as Labour leader – and his situation is far from unique. Here, former private secretary Dunstan Hadley considers what he’d say to those who suddenly find themselves running a political party or a government department

As the man who brought behavioural science to Whitehall, David Halpern is no stranger to controversy. But the results speak for themselves, he tells Colin Marrs

Civil Service World's regular guide to the very best in Whitehallese

What’s the opposite of outsourcing? Insourcing, of course – and the DVLA has just given it a go. As the driver agency moves more than 300 IT staff in-house, Matt Foster caught up with chief executive Oliver Morley and outgoing chief technology officer Iain Patterson

From crowdsourcing to the use of apps, Meg Hillier is determined to transform the Public Accounts Committee into a “digitally-savvy” body that reaches out to taxpayers. The new chair speaks to Josh May

The former top official at the Department for Work and Pensions shares his Whitehall reflections with CSW editor Jess Bowie

As the government’s most senior medical adviser, it’s Dame Sally Davies’ job to stand up for hard evidence and grapple with some of the country’s biggest health challenges. Matt Foster meets her

With life and death in the balance, does the Department of Health have the Treasury over a barrel when it comes to spending negotiations? Sally Gainsbury takes the temperature of the debate