News

MPs give qualified backing to Peter Riddell as new watchdog overseeing top public sector appointment – but say they will keep an eye on danger of "politicisation" in the wake of planned shake-up of the role

Microsoft offers its vision for organisations navigating a cloud-first, mobile-first world.

Civil service union PCS argues latest proposals do not take account of Land Registry's digital progress and could lead to a reduced capacity for statutory work

Union analysis of Cabinet Office data on more than 280,000 officials highlights "statistically significant" differences in how different groups are treated

Home Affairs select committee demands department’s second permanent secretary returns to answer Border Force budget questions

Macpherson says IDS's resignation over Personal Independence Payments was an "interesting, postmodern" decision

National Audit Office (NAO) report finds that each loan given out under the Department of Energy and Climate Change's Green Deal cost government £17,000, and flags poor use of evidence and testing when the scheme was designed 

There used to be so many ways of classifying government data it was difficult to ensure data protection. Now there are much clearer rules, argues Microsoft.

Alliance for Useful Evidence project says incentives will be needed to ensure policy takes account of evidence

Home Affairs Committee chair Keith Vaz repeatedly questions Robbins on Border Force funding

Plans to change the way key public sector jobs are filled have drawn criticism from the former public appointments watchdog Sir David Normington, who is concerned they hand too much power to ministers. So what are the key concerns and how has the government responded?

PACAC chair Bernard Jenkin makes the case for greater parliamentary role in choosing appointments watchdogs, as Sir Gerry Grimstone rejects claims that his review gives ministers too much power over top jobs

GDS executive director says central government digital team must ensure Whitehall "embraces the change, rather than trying to avoid it"

Shadow Cabinet Office minister Louise Haigh says ministers "like to talk the talk about diversity"

The former first civil service commissioner Sir David Normington breaks bread with Suzannah Brecknell, and talks about his time regulating top civil service appointments, his four decades in Whitehall – and his concerns over the government's plan for public appointments

Internal Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) document shows scale of staff reductions being considered under BIS 2020 plans

Troup faces media scrutiny over role at Simmons & Simmons – as HMRC points out his role "has never involved responsibility for operational activities or direct dealings with companies on their tax affairs"

Behind some of the dubious and downright dishonest claims in the debate over Britain's place in the EU is a belief that government is easy. This is nonsense

HMRC asks for access to the Panama Papers offshore leaks and vows to "relentlessly pursue" wrongdoing – but tax expert Richard Murphy says department "just hasn’t got the resources"

From the editor: Iain Duncan Smith's resignation highlights the sheer power of the Treasury under George Osborne

International Development permanent secretary Mark Lowcock tells CSW that asking other departments to take on aid commitments won't undermine DfID's mission — and says some of his staff have been poached for their expertise

Malcolm McKibbin tells staff 17-month embargo on new hires is over, after around 3,000 staff quit service via Voluntary Exit Scheme

Statistics show the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s consular service took around half a million calls over the past 12 months, some of them far from genuine emergencies

Department for International Development permanent secretary tells CSW about efforts to provide a "rigorous analytical framework" for measuring international civil service performance