News

“Only one or two companies” owned by the government will never be privatised, Mark Russell, the new head of the Shareholder Executive, told the Financial Times on Monday. The government owns stakes in 21 businesses, including trading funds such as Ordnance Survey and the Land Registry.

The Postcode Address File – a database containing details of over 28m UK addresses – is to be sold off along with the Royal Mail in the coalition’s privatisation plans, prompting criticism from the government-backed Open Data Institute (ODI).

Ed Lester, former head of the Student Loans Company (SLC), has been appointed chief executive of the Land Registry. He replaces Malcolm Dawson, who joined the Land Registry in 2008 and became chief exec in 2011 on a fixed-term contract.

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

People are using their mobile phones and tablet computers for a fast-growing range of tasks, and service providers must keep up. Joshua Chambers reports on how digital by default has morphed into mobile first

The long-awaited Capabilities Plan has now emerged, outlining how civil service skills and abilities are to be strengthened. Now the work begins: Colin Marrs explains how officials will be required to put flesh on its bones.

The coalition really doesn’t understand health and safety, a professional in the field tells Tom Heyden.

It’s not clear that the MoJ is ready for its next big challenge

The Ministry of Justice is at the forefront of the coalition’s moves towards both outsourcing of service provision, and payment by results – meaning that life isn’t always easy for its chief, Ursula Brennan. Matt Ross meets her

The transport department's Community Rail Ambassador Project won the Understanding and Engaging with Communities award in the Diversity and Equality Awards for their work encouraging disadvantaged groups to make better use of rail travel. Civil Service World finds out more

Under the coalition’s open data agenda, the trading funds are being encouraged to release more information without charge. But if they give away their biggest asset for free, how can they earn a living? Winnie Agbonlahor reports.

Civil Service Learning is struggling to reverse a terrible trend.

In 2010, a CSW survey revealed civil servants’ feelings about their training. Three years on, post budget cuts and Civil Service Learning, we’ve asked them again – with quite different results. Suzannah Brecknell reports.

The annual drama of the Budget is a dysfunctional relic and should be scrapped, says Julian McCrae. Ministers and civil servants have bigger – and more nourishing – fish to fry.

The former head of construction for the London 2012 Olympic games, Howard Shiplee, has been appointed to lead the delivery of Universal Credit, the Department for Work and Pensions has announced today.

The Department for Communities and Local Government must do more to ensure the success of a £1.3 billion scheme aimed at boosting home building, the National Audit Office (NAO) warned today.

The civil service pay cap will continue for an extra year, limiting pay increases to an average of one per cent per year until 2015-16, and the government will also seek to end automatic pay rises for all civil servants, chancellor George Osborne announced in his Budget last week.

Government will no longer have a cross-government chief information officer (CIO), and his responsibilities will move to the Government Digital Service (GDS), it was announced earlier this month. Andy Nelson, the former government CIO, will remain as CIO of the Department for Work and Pensions.

The government must set out clear lines of responsibility for emergency response in its health care reform plans, MPs have warned.

The UK Border Agency (UKBA) is to be axed and its functions divided into two separate Home Office units, home secretary Theresa May announced yesterday in Parliament

Since Derek Jones began working on Welsh governance, the country’s administration has largely shifted from London to Cardiff. And now more devolution is on the way, Wales’s new perm sec tells Suzannah Brecknell

The civil service pay cap will continue for an extra year, and the government will also reform automatic pay rises for all civil servants, chancellor George Osborne announced in his budget today.