The 2012 Permanent Secretaries' Round-Up

Sir Bob Kerslake

Head of the Civil Service and Permanent Secretary, Department for Communities and Local Government

Ursula Brennan

Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Justice

Robert Devereux

Permanent Secretary, Department for Work and Pensions

Martin Donnelly

Permanent Secretary, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

Simon Fraser

Permanent Secretary, Foreign and Commonwealth Office

A primary school teacher laments the loss of centralised standards.

The government’s ICT strategy sets out the coalition’s desire to take smaller bites at the IT pie, testing flavour and minimising indigestion. Civil Service World reports back from a round table debate on how to realise that ambition:

Simon Fraser

Permanent Secretary of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office

Jon Thompson

Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Defence

Chris Last

Head of Civil Service HR

The government has repeatedly come a cropper when outsourcing work, but the number of outsourced projects is only going to grow. Mark Smulian attends a round table on how the civil service can become a shrewder customer

To encourage poorer and ethnic minority youngsters to consider a career in the civil service, the government has introduced new internships. Tim Fish reports on efforts to ensure Whitehall’s high-flyers are less uniformly white.

A special educational needs teacher considers realistic ambitions, unfair criticisms, and how the EBacc might affect non-academic children.

Breaking the cycle of welfare dependence is a complex task. Approaching the issue in a more scientific manner can pay dividends, the Department for Work and Pensions’ social justice director explains to Joshua Chambers

The Big Lottery Fund gives away millions of pounds to boost good causes in the UK. Chief executive Peter Wanless tells Tim Fish why he wants to work more closely with Whitehall, and how the fund can help the public sector

The head of HMRC has got a hell of a journey to make with this vast and complex organisation. Matt Ross meets Lin Homer, whose inbox bulges with thorny questions around Universal Credit, child benefit reforms and staff morale.

The Open Data Institute, set to launch next month, aims to turn digital information into economic growth. Matt Ross meets its chief Gavin Starks, who sees data as the raw material for an important new British primary industry

In a bid to improve the operation of the NHS, the Department of Health is publishing reams of medical performance data and anonymised patient information. Tim Fish reports on a trailblazer in the government’s open data agenda.

With further cuts looming on the horizon, the Institute for Government has analysed three years’ worth of departmental efficiency programmes and recommended a new approach be adopted. Tim Fish reports.

Helping charities deliver public services can be challenging work, says one professional at the public-voluntary sector interface.

Vast quantities of information are generated each second, but how can policymakers exploit ‘big data’ to inform their decisions? Ben Willis watched as experts from the worlds of academia, IT and policy tried to make sense of it all