News

More than 100 civil servants in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) have got their boots muddy in a series of farm visits aimed at improving their understanding of farming.

The Government Digital Service (GDS) and the business department (BIS) will establish a cross-government digital capability and skills programme to help citizens use digital services.

The Ministry of Defence’s Defence, Equipment and Support (DE&S) division was this month turned into an arm’s-length body and given an exemption from Treasury salary controls and civil service-wide promotion criteria.

A Labour government would set targets for the proportion of people from BME and working class backgrounds joining the Fast Stream, as part of a drive to improve diversity across the civil service.

Inadequate defences and complacency led to the 2012 attack on Camp Bastion, the Commons’ Defence Committee said yesterday.

The Civil Service Commission won’t reform the appointment process for permanent secretaries without the backing of the Public Administration Select Committee (PASC), first civil service commissioner Sir David Normington has told CSW.

The consumerisation of IT has resulted in a dramatic cultural shift in the modern workplace, writes Cornerstone.

Outsourcing giant G4S has been cleared to bid for government contracts after it was barred from doing so earlier this year following an over-charging scandal.

New DVLA chief Oliver Morley has arrived in the wake of a major review of the transport department agency, and will soon be joined by a new chair. Suzannah Brecknell learns that the scene is set for a transformation project

Given the rhetoric surrounding the shift to the modern workplace and the importance of centring technology around the users rather than the producers, why has progress stagnated?

How can organisations allow employees to use their own devices to access corporate information securely, within parameters set by management?

AECOM’s Associate Director of Sustainability, Michael Henderson, considers the environmental and economic benefits of effective water management in urban areas.

Dr Vanessa Lawrence, director general and chief executive of Ordnance Survey, is leaving the organisation at the end of the year.

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Civil servants have been urged by the Government Digital Service to use more online tools such as Twitter, SurveyMonkey and LinkedIn.

Public sector procurement professionals must prepare to make the most of new EU procurement rules that allow government to penalise poor suppliers, Sally Collier, government’s deputy chief procurement officer, has told CSW.

The government “got its maths wrong” when planning to raise tuition fees, according to Nick Hillman, former special adviser to university minister David Willetts.

When my friend invited me to the Parcel Yard at King’s Cross Station, my hopes for a pleasant venue weren’t high. Having spent a fair bit of time awaiting trains, waiting for arrivals or seeking solace after missing a train, I have seen rather a lot of train stations’ facilities. My experience of station pubs has been one of peculiar smells, questionable characters and grumpy bar staff.

After railways, hotels are the best setting for intrigue, romance and murder – locations where people take only the baggage they need, leaving everything else behind and experimenting in ways they’d never dare in their everyday lives.

The Civil Service Workforce Reform Team is planning to “ramp up the communication” about civil service pensions reform in the next few weeks, its head has told CSW.

As head of civil service workforce reform, Adrian Dottridge oversees controversial reforms to pensions, pay & T&Cs. Winnie Agbonlahor hears him explain why his team members don’t deserve their reputation as ‘panto villains’

Michael Barber, the former head of Tony Blair’s Delivery Unit, has told CSW he is “tempted” by the idea of a commission on civil service reform, as long as it’s able to build cross-party consensus.