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Permanent secretaries’ tenure is too short and the high turnover is sometimes to blame when “things go wrong”, according to former cabinet secretary Lord Butler, who also warned that civil servants “aren’t encouraged to speak truth to power”.

Baroness Martha Lane Fox is stepping down from her role as the government’s digital champion, after more than three years in the job.

The Home Affairs select committee is today calling on the home secretary to rethink her decision to ban khat – a plant which has a stimulant effect when chewed – and warns that the decision has “not been taken on the basis of evidence or consultation”.

The government should send more civil servants to the European Commission (EC) as part of their regular career paths, chief secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander has said.

A former special schools headteacher explains how child protection rules swing from pole to pole, creating confusion all round

The Major Projects Authority (MPA) is extending its range to cover 100 more projects from next year, CSW has learnt.

Prime minister David Cameron has called on civil servants to “talk truth to power and tell it like it is” in order to improve policy.

A seasoned postman in a small English town explains why, along with 2013, the years 2006 and 2021 have huge significance for Royal Mail

The creative industries are huge contributors to the UK economy, and the rise of digital media will make them more important still. Winnie Agbonlahor looks at how government can promote growth in this crucial sector

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has created a new director general-level role, in an effort to rebalance the department’s workload.

The government’s moves to loosen the rules governing departmental consultations are leading to shorter consultation periods, Lord Bichard has told CSW – and one recent decision to avoid consulting entirely has resulted in a very poor piece of regulation.

Julie Chappell, head of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s (FCO) Emerging Powers Department, has won a ‘Women of the Future’ award.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is the latest to commission policy work to outside organisations by using money from the government’s Contestable Policy Fund, CSW can reveal.

Departments should publish an annual summary of secondments into and out of their organisation, to improve public confidence and transparency about potential lobbying, according to a report published today by the Committee on Standards in Public Life (CSPL).

A suburban GP explains why he thinks the government has broken the NHS up into clinical commissioning groups

Jonathan Ashworth, shadow minister for the Cabinet Office, has written to Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood questioning whether a recent appointment into the civil service was based on "merit, not party political allegiance”.

The Rye

31 Peckham Rye, London, SE15 3NXT

020 7639 5397

“Photography these days is easy”, my friends like to say. “All you need is a good camera and a manual.” It may come as a surprise that these friends of mine are photographers. 

The Government’s lobbying bill could have a “chilling effect on free speech”, according to the Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR). In a report published in October, the JCHR called for the Bill to be paused and amended.

It’s not only private businesses such as Amazon that are applying analytics to improve their effectiveness. Winnie Agbonlahor looks at how defence data is being mined for insights that will help shape the future of warfare

There is a "shortage of project management skills" in the Department for Transport (DfT), according to Margaret Hodge, chair of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has won a national award for its use of social media.

The prime minister should put pressure on all government departments to support community budgets (CBs), Clive Betts, chair of the Communities and Local Government Committee, has told Civil Service World.

Head of the civil service Sir Bob Kerslake will use the mid-year permanent secretary performance reviews to discuss with perm secs their progress in improving diversity.

The government is likely to miss its legally-binding target of ending child poverty by 2020, a report by Alan Milburn, chair of the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission, has warned.

A former language teacher explains why his idealism turned to disillusion as he learned how today’s school system works

Applebee’s FISH

5 Stoney St, Borough Market, SE1 9AA

020 7407 5777

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has appointed Kevin Cunnington (pictured below), former global head of online for Vodafone, as its new director general for digital transformation.

The Treasury must prevent the pre-release of any Budget information, the Treasury select committee said in a report published today, as this practice allows the government to “manage the message of Budgets and Autumn Statements to an unacceptable degree”.

Like every government department, the MoD must enact widespread job cuts – but its task is made uniquely difficult by the political sensitivities around armed forces redundancies. Winnie Agbonlahor investigates

There will be no further cuts to the civil service at the Ministry of Defence (MoD), but the Army could suffer more redundancies, according to Jon Thompson, the ministry’s permanent secretary.

Mark Bowman has been appointed the new director general of international finance at the Treasury. He re-joins the department from the Department for International Development and will replace Michael Ellam, who announced his decision to leave the Civil Service in July 2013.

The National Audit Office (NAO) has called on the Treasury to improve its guidance on the use of confidentiality clauses and special severance payments, and to increase transparency and oversight.

In a Special Report published in CSW on 25 September, we examined 12 major projects: three each from the defence, transport, health, and work & pensions departments. We chose projects of a range of types, and covering the ‘traffic light’ risk spectrum from green to red. The text below covers one of the four departments: click here to read our introduction and methodology.

William Hague, former executive director for civil service workforce reform in the Cabinet Office, has been appointed chief people officer (CPO) at HM Revenue and Customs.