News

In an era of protracted belt-tightening in government, how can departments collaborate on policy design to save money and improve outcomes for the citizen? A recent CSW round table explored these issues, as Colin Marrs reports

Civil Service Board backs move to let key commercial staff work directly for the centre of government, potentially sitting outside of departmental pay and grading

Microsoft looks at the digital infrastructure that allows cities to prosper

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills perm sec Martin Donnelly vows to ensure staff are "fully supported" as he confirms plan to shut Sheffield policy site by January 2018. CSW has full details and reaction from the PCS and FDA unions, Labour, and frontline staff

Dame Judith Hackitt, the new head of the manufacturers’ organisation EEF, spent nine years overseeing the Health & Safety Executive before returning to her roots in industry. Sam Macrory meets her

Department for Business perm sec Martin Donnelly arrives to brief staff on possible St Paul's Place closure plans – as strike action continues

Latest revisions to the tax authority's Single Departmental Plan include customer service targets and aim of getting staff engagement up to civil service-wide average

Labour leader backs long-running aim of the Public and Commercial Services union, that would see an end to departmental chiefs setting their own pay for staff

Public and Commercial Services union general secretary says union must have “very important" debate about its future direction, and says PCS is "still standing" in spite of plans to end deduction of union fees from civil servants' pay packets

Sir Ian Cheshire says government will publish only “top level” metrics on progress against published Single Departmental Plans – which are themselves summaries of more detailed plans held internally

Keith Hurst tells Max Goldbart how his team’s award-winning strategy transformed a key element of the Land Registry’s operations

New report by the UK’s aid watchdog says Department for International Development’s claims on improving access to water and sanitation are credible — but warns department’s focus may be too short-term

Competition and Markets Authority says privatised Land Registry could “degrade the terms of access to its monopoly data in order to weaken competition to its own commercial products”

Cabinet Office promises new multi agency incident transfer protocol will help improve response to major incidents like terror attacks and floods

Civil service diversity champion wants more info on levels of awareness and take-up of workplace adjustments among disabled officials – and says tackling bullying and harassment will require a change in culture

New research by Vodafone explores the benefits of a robust partnership between public- and third -sector organisations

Since CSW last spoke to the Department for Transport’s permanent secretary Philip Rutnam he has taken on the role of disability champion for the civil service. Here, he talks to Suzannah Brecknell about the importance of skilling up his department and his aspirations for helping all staff reach their potential

Our review finds that the Department for International Development has focused global minds on combating violence against women and girls – but this is just the beginning

Tech entrepreneur and government digital adviser tells The House magazine that Government Digital Service was right to  "go fast" in its early years – but says reform efforts must not become "balkanised" in separate departments

Experts question the ability of Queen’s Speech centrepiece to deal with system's core problems

Microsoft's Kris Evans offers a glimpse into a hacker's mindset and tactics 

NATS, which manages all flights in UK controlled airspace, has achieved unprecedented results using Microsoft's SQL Server and Azure

Former Department of Health permanent secretary Dame Una O’Brien and the DH's current deputy director of legislation and policy reflect on the lessons from a series of seminars drawing on insights from past healthcare leaders and those working on the innovations of the future

Crown Commercial Service to roll out the Open Contracting Data Standard across Whitehall by the autumn, as Cabinet Office acknowledges current contracts info acting as a "barrier to suppliers and businesses"