News

Brian Moore left his job as director general of the UK Border Force yesterday, having announced his departure at a Home Affairs Committee hearing in the morning. He has been succeeded on an interim basis by Tony Smith, a senior director at the UK Border Agency (UKBA) who was responsible for the delivery of its Olympic programme.

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has accused the government’s Regional Growth Fund (RGF) of failing to deliver on job creation, allocating money too slowly through restrictive channels despite the need to act quickly to support the creation of private sector jobs.

Central government has shown the smallest increase in self-reported data breaches compared to other parts of the public and private sector, according to figures obtained from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) by data security firm Imation Corp.

The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) is unlikely to meet its main performance and savings targets, says the National Audit Office (NAO).

The four members of the Public Data Group (PDG) are working together to develop new commercial, revenue-generating data services, Land Registry chief executive Malcolm Dawson has told CSW. The move will help Land Registry to generate an income from some of its data, funding the publication of other datasets without charge.

Sir Alan Massey, chief executive of the Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA), told the Scottish Affairs Committee yesterday that his reform programme won’t start to make savings until its fourth year.

The think tank contracted by the Cabinet Office to provide external policy advice on the future of civil service accountability has published research setting out its conclusions on the topic, CSW can reveal.

The decision by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to dismantle its Nimrod MRA4 maritime surveillance aircraft has created a gap in an essential defence capability, a report published today by the House of Commons Defence Select Committee has warned.

A paediatric epilepsy nurse reveals her worries about job cuts and the power of managers over clinicians.

Eleven NHS foundation trusts are in financial difficulty, and a further 13 are at risk of getting into difficulty, David Bennett, the chief executive of the NHS regulator Monitor, told the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) yesterday.

Cuts to civilian staff at the MoD are falling more heavily on the senior ranks, making the department less top-heavy. Tim Fish reports on the progress of its downsizing efforts compared to those of other departments

Much of the reporting of the Public Administration Select Committee (PASC) report on the honours system emphasised our apparent criticism that civil servants get too many honours. But as Dame Mary Marsh, the chair of the State Honours Committee, pointed out when I bumped into her on the day of the report’s launch, honours used to be for rewarding public servants; now they should reward public service. That’s an important distinction.

Collaboration, collaboration, collaboration. This is the key to ensuring that government and industry deliver megaprojects as planned.

The Government Property Unit needs “greater clout” across Whitehall so that it can achieve bigger savings from the sale of government real estate, the Public Accounts Committee said last week.

Central government has shown the smallest increase in self-reported data breaches compared to other parts of the public and private sector, according to figures obtained from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) by data security firm Imation Corp.

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Twice before, the Public Administration Select Committee has called for reforms to the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments – but to little avail. Now it’s having another go: Colin Marrs reports on its latest assault.

Government agency NS&I is hoping to become a provider of services for other departments under the next phase of the government’s shared services programme, an NS&I manager has said.

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...and you’ll see the reform plan undergoing a mutation

Richard Heaton, the first parliamentary counsel, has been appointed as a part-time permanent secretary of the Cabinet Office, and started the job on Monday. He replaces Melanie Dawes, who took on the role in a temporary capacity following the sudden departure of Ian Watmore in June after only six months in the job.

The coalition has outsourced policy research on sharpening civil servants’ accountability to ministers because it would be “very odd to ask the civil service itself to do that” and might prompt accusations that the advice is “self-serving”, Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude has told Civil Service World.