Companies House chief Tim Moss runs a happy team in laid-back Cardiff, but there’s plenty of tensions in his job – like those between deregulation and tackling fraud, or open data and revenue generation. Matt Ross meets him

All new ministers should undergo compulsory training and yearly appraisals led by one minister in the Cabinet Office, according to the Political and Constitutional Reform Committee’s report published today.

Very few jobs these days can be undertaken without any qualifications or tuition – but if you’re running the country, you may not even receive an induction. Joshua Chambers reports on the prospects for ministerial training.

Over the last year the chairman of Standard Life, Gerry Grimstone, has been visiting Ministry of Defence offices to meet and speak with civil servants from across the department. It's not a very personal bid for defence civil servants to reconsider their savings choices, but part of his role as the department's lead non-executive director. Grimstone, in common with many other departmental non-executive directors, wants to improve communications between boards and civil servants.

This week’s interviewee works for Jobcentre Plus, handling benefit claims and helping people to find work

The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) spent years engulfed in painful criticism. Mark Grimshaw, who came in as chief executive two years ago determined to turn things around, tells Winnie Agbonlahor how he’s smartened up its act

The Social Value Act came into force at the start of this year, requiring public bodies to consider using procurement to produce wider benefits. Winnie Agbonlahor reports on a round table held to discuss the new law’s implications.

As government’s chief technology officer, Liam Maxwell is responsible for shaking up Whitehall’s IT operations in the pursuit of cost and time savings. Joshua Chambers meets the radical reformer in conservative cloth

A university welfare officer warns that privatisation is weakening the support for students, whilst fees narrow the student group

Aeronautics are a good example of a new form of partnership between government and industry. Suzannah Brecknell looks at the levers which can enable Whitehall and business to effectively work togeth

The government has appointed six new crown representatives from the business world in order to help Whitehall departments get the best deal out of suppliers. Winnie Agbonlahor introduces the new recruits

The new chief executive of the Food Standards Agency, Catherine Brown, tells Joshua Chambers about the pressure her organisation faced when, just after she joined, traces of horsemeat were found in food products.

Alex Ellis has just left his post as the FCO’s director of strategy to become ambassador to Brazil. On his last day in the job, Winnie Agbonlahor learns how he’s tried to encourage greater self-criticism in a department not known for its self-lacerating humility.

A tenant support worker employed by a charity says benefit reforms are causing unnecessary suffering.

New DECC chief Stephen Lovegrove has, to his evident relief, missed all the big battles over the direction of our energy policies – but he does face huge challenges in putting those policies into practice. Matt Ross meets him

Information storage can be complex and costly, not to mention its environmental impact. As Whitehall organisations look for good places to squirrel away their ever-growing mounds of data, Gill Hitchcock sets out the options

The British Library’s vast collection is about to get much bigger. Suzannah Brecknell meets its new chief executive, Roly Keating, to find out how the world’s second largest library is reinventing itself for the digital age

Government must plan ahead for long-term social, economic and environmental change, so it employs ‘horizon scanners’ to predict likely scenarios. Joshua Chambers looks at what the future holds for this unusual profession.

A Sociology teacher tells Sophie Barnes the education department’s reforms risk pitting school leaders against teachers – and leaving some pupils with nowhere to go.

Chris Wormald, the education department’s permanent secretary, is leading organisational changes that go well beyond the Civil Service Reform Plan. Matt Ross quizzes him on the outcomes of his "zero-based review".

For years, governments have run pilots exploring ways to improve local autonomy and coordination between services at the sharp end. Winnie Agbonlahor reports on the latest results – and the prospects for radical change

The CloudStore is a key part of plans to change the way government buys ICT, but many civil servants don’t even know what it is. Suzannah Brecknell attends a seminar exploring how departments can buy bargains online.

The Cybermen may have nearly defeated Dr Who, but today’s good guys face an even more formidable foe in the shape of cyber criminals. Tim Gibson reports on a round table held to identify the civil service’s sonic screwdrivers.

Public services are generally improved by giving employees the confidence to speak out against bad practice. But as Colin Marrs discovers, there are doubts over the existing frameworks’ ability to protect whistleblowers