News

Newly-released Foreign Office papers show "laid back" US President was seen as "not on an intellectual par" with the UK prime minister

Newly-released historical papers from the Foreign Office show Britain’s decidedly undiplomatic take on the state of Ireland

Foreign Office files show how the department's permanent secretary ordered the formation of an elite “security coordination unit", able to call on officials from right across the civil service

Full details on the new leadership team at the DIT – as former UK Trade and Investments chief exec Andrew Cahn tells CSW that setting up a new department could have a "really serious frictional cost"

Co-writer of the still-definitive civil service satire rememberd as "an iconoclast who was willing to make a joke about almost anything"

Then-foreign secretary and his wife asked officials to gather "as many details as possible" about the wives and family lives of foreign ministers, new papers show

Newly-released papers show how Number 10 kept the Foreign Office out of the loop over a US briefing on the controversial Strategic Defence Initiative

Newly-released papers show how officials set out to frustrate planned visit by the Palestinian Liberation Organisation leader

David Hoare steps down after saying the Isle of Wight suffered from a "mass" of crime, drug and unemployment problems

Leaked risk assessment highlights concerns over workforce and Brexit – but Whitehall source points out that such documents are designed to set out "worst-case scenario"

Downing Street moves to dampen speculation that Theresa May is considering a rethink on George Osborne's drive to give away powers in exchange for elected mayors

Advertisement for the role of Wales' top official goes live – as first minister Carwyn Jones emphasises that Brexit means "fundamental change for Wales and the UK as a whole"

How can Whitehall departments be persuaded to collaborate more effectively to achieve greater efficiency and savings? Mark Smulian reports on a round table discussion of the issue sponsored by CGI at Civil Service Live and led by the Ministry of Justice permanent secretary Richard Heaton

Daniel Thornton of the respected IfG think tank predicts greater role in business transformation work for government departments

UK's new prime minister is said to be considering lifting the requirement for local authorities to have elected mayors to get devolution deals

Two years into her tenure at the Charity Commission, chief executive Paula Sussex says her organisation is making substantial strides towards turning around some damning findings from Westminster watchdogs. Mark Smulian reports

New appointments in the civil service, UK politics, and public affairs, via our colleagues on Dods People

The highest proportion of top public sector jobs on record went to women in the last year, new figures from the Commissioner for Public Appointments show

The UK ran a surplus of just £1bn last month – £200m lower than July 2015

Civil Service World's regular guide to the very best in Whitehallese

In eight years as a Labour minister and 22 as an MP, Nick Raynsford learned a thing or two about what works in government. He sits down with CSW’s Matt Foster to talk about his new book, "Substance Not Spin", Whitehall’s fear of letting go — and why his party must not become an “ineffective protest movement”

Equalities and Human Rights Commission paints stark picture of differing outcomes for ethnic minority groups and urges government to join up disparate initiatives

New prime minister wants new Spad pay to be capped at £72,000 a year unless signed off by Number 10

Permanent secretary of the Department for Exiting the European Union says the new organisation is "growing fast"