After seven years running the Met Office, John Hirst is returning to the business world. CSW gets his views on leading civil servants, working with politicians, and being in charge of the weather

Is Social Media Right for the Public Sector? Cornerstone take a closer look.

Damien Venkatasamy says technological challenges are not the only ones which government organisations need to overcome to transform services.

Having promised Scotland new powers in a panicky bid to secure a ‘no’ vote in the referendum, the three main parties now have to deliver on their vow – and throw England a bone too. CSW examines the implications. Illustration by John Levers

The ‘big data’ phenomenon has already enabled civil servants to spot fraud and tighten financial oversight; now they’re analysing the wealth of new datasets to create and reshape policies. Stuart Watson listened in at a CSW round table on the subject

As the election looms, CSW puts six questions to deputy prime minister and Liberal Democrat party leader Nick Clegg

Since becoming the government’s executive director of digital in 2011, Mike Bracken has transformed Whitehall’s approach to IT and web services. He’s done so, he tells CSW, by disrupting the status quo to implant a revolutionary new agenda

Mentioning the words ‘government’ and ‘IT’ in the same breath has traditionally been a signal for sighs and raised eyebrows. The press coverage generated earlier this year by care.data – the proposed NHS system for storing and sharing patient information – once again illustrated how public sector technology projects can come unstuck.

I rundown of a key piece of legislation; what are its aims and how will it affect you? This edition we look at the Criminal Justice and Courts Bill.

Developments in public service reform from around the world

In our monthly feature focussing on people who have crossed organisational and sectoral boundaries, Mark Gibson talks about his move from the then-Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform (BERR) to the Whitehall and Industry Group

Journalist and historian Peter Hennessy meets former chief of the defence staff General Sir David Richards to discuss Whitehall’s internal wars, and the need for truly strategic thinking in Whitehall

Victor Adebowale may be a peer of the realm, but his ideas for public service reform – built on 30 years’ experience in housing and social care – challenge established thinking. Winnie Agbonlahor meets him

Helen Edwards left a career in frontline social work and charity management for a job on Whitehall; now she's the DCLG's deputy permanent secretary. She tells Matt Ross about pursuing change in service delivery, councils, and her own department. Photo by Mark Weeks

Winnie Agbonlahor meets the new Treasury solicitor and head of the legal profession, Jonathan Jones – a man trying to bring all the government’s lawyers into a single force

Cloud technologies could help build the civil service of tomorrow, but there are substantial challenges to overcome. Gill Hitchcock reports on a round table discussion of how civil servants can make the most of cloud services to support organisational reform. Photos by Derek Goard

Labour’s Cabinet Office spokesman is on a charm offensive. Winnie Agbonlahor reports on his plans for Whitehall reform

Some view mutuals as a brave new world; others, as a sneaky way to push privatisation. CSW hears from those who’ve made the leap.

Chris Wormald tells Winnie Agbonlahor how he's trying to raise the standard of policymaking across government - without imposing too much central control

The new set of published perm secs' objectives seem much improved, but are they really what they claim to be? Report by Samera Owusu Tutu. Illustration by John Levers.

A survey of health professionals reveals negativity about NHS reforms across the board. Samera Owusu Tutu reports

In March this year, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) reported that public sector net debt as a proportion of GDP would rise in 2015-16, not fall, corroborating its earlier forecasts. It has since been suggested that the Government’s fiscal programme is deferring the pain of the crisis, making next Parliament a “dumping ground” for problems deemed too difficult to resolve in this one.

Iain Rennie, state services commissioner at the New Zealand Government, tells Civil Service World about the strengths and weaknesses of his home civil service