News

Bankers Fields Wicker-Miurin and Neil Mendoza set to join department

At the Department for Communities and Local Government, Melanie Dawes is busy encouraging civil servants to give up their powers over local public services. She opens up to Suzannah Brecknell about stepping back, asking big questions, and the importance of taking all your holidays

 UK Statistics Authority "deeply concerned" about "unauthorised, widespread sharing of statistics before their publication"

Overall borrowing this year now at £74.2bn,  past the OBR's projection of £68.9bn

Most officials will be aware of cases where “perverse incentives” hamper better service delivery. Joshua Chambers takes a global view of how corporate cannibalism and bare-faced theft can be a recipe for success

Regulator Ofgem’s energy markets inquiry lead Rachel Fletcher appointed for seven-year term

Minister says longstanding errors with online documents could have affected 2,200 divorce settlements

 Head of the Government Property Unit challenges departments to test themselves against newly-launched smart working code of practice

Former diplomat named as successor to Charles Farr at Home Office section

MoJ's top official says falling out with prisons inspector was the result of spending controls introduced "in some haste" to tackle department's overspend

Home Office named "Star Performer" for treatment of LGBT staff – and will now offer advice to other organisations

Four years on from a major overhaul of Whitehall’s learning and development programme, Civil Service Learning is embarking on another big shake-up. Matt Foster sits down with CSL director Hilary Spencer to discuss what “phase two” will mean for officials

NAO finds that the Department for International Development may be over-reliant on external contractors as it responds to an increasing number of crises

Chief executive of the Infrastructure and Projects Watchdog seeks to reassure MPs after merger with Treasury unit – and John Manzoni says new organisation will have more "teeth"

As Lords Committee looks into whether Scotland needs a separate civil service, former Cabinet secretary Lord O'Donnell says London house prices "seriously damage mobility" between Whitehall and the rest of the UK

Report by MPs says Eurostar sale was managed well but that government used "over cautious assumptions" and should do more to build in-house corporate finance knowledge

Coalition justice minister Lord McNally warns FoI review panel is a "rigged jury" – while Lib Dem chief whip Tom Brake attacks Jeremy Heywood and Gus O'Donnell

Government should be trialling use of distributed ledger technologies to improve welfare payments, according to a report published today

With the path from Whitehall to Davos well-worn, Adrian Brown suggests how delegates at this week's event might turn pledges into reality 

A new workforce strategy and using data to “more closely align departments” are among the priorities for Whitehall's incoming HR chief

Former cabinet secretary says civil servants will be informally working on preparations for British exit from the European Union in spite of official assurances

Project "Ocean Liner" reportedly mulls insourcing and says there is "no consistent advice" for dealing with IT challenges across government

New research from Vodafone reveals a surprising link between technology and trust in public services. 

Sir Nicholas Macpherson – the longest serving Treasury perm sec for sixty years – can be credited with overseeing the rebuilding of the finance ministry. But his successor faces a formidable in-tray