Civil Service Reform

After decades of reviews aimed at driving down the civil service's running costs, Sir Michael Barber, former chief of Blair's delivery unit, is hailed by one Whitehall-watcher as "much less celebrity and much more focused on getting the job done"

Microsoft Surface has helped Cheshire Police reduce paperwork and free up time

Wide-ranging plan includes announcement of new "Digital Government Partnership" to encourage innovation in Whitehall – as Labour's Louise Haigh blasts "recycled announcements and meagre commitments"

Public Chairs Forum, Association of Chief Executives and the Institute for Government will track progress on the Cabinet Office's bid to improve relationships between departments and ALBs

Civil service's head of executive recruitment tells CSW that new online recruitment tool – Applied – will focus on increasing diversity and speeding up the sifting process

Lesley Ann Nash, the Cabinet Office's director for public bodies reform, explains how the government's new code is aiming to shift relationships between departments and arm’s-length bodies away from compliance and control towards a proportionate, risk-based partnership model

Retaining public trust “absolutely critical" to plans for data-drive government, says the civil service CEO

Tax collection agency beats target by 400,000 users months ahead of self-imposed deadline

Most of the challenges the Workforce Plan purports to tackle are ones that Whitehall has bumped up against for decades. Perhaps it's time to start interrogating the civil service's Victorian structures – rather than simply adding layers of reform on top, argues Andrew Greenway

Westminster City Council approves proposals for Whitehall landmark despite heritage concerns

Whitehall & Industry Group accolade lauds “exemplary leadership” driven by cross-sector learning

HMRC programme director Mike Howes-Roberts calls for "honest and candid dialogue" with other departments as he confirms tax authority will not make full use of much-heralded GDS platform

Government Digital Service director general Kevin Cunnington tells CSW's sister site PublicTechnology that government is “on track to finish" ambitious overhaul set out in the last parliament

Think tank says long-awaited vision has no detail on resource allocation and a telling absence of public support from prime minister Theresa May and chancellor Philip Hammond

Union cries foul over “unprecedented” redundancies made with 24 hours’ notice at rights watchdog

Former minister tells watchdog MPs Whitehall has made "bad mistakes" in outsourcing IT projects

Government Transformation Strategy sets out plans to encourage a pro-digital culture change in Whitehall, with unified pay strategy for central government roles

Newly-released interviews by the Institute for Government offer a fascinating insight into politicians’ views of the Whitehall machine. They ain’t all that flattering, finds Suzannah Brecknell...

Some staff are still uncertain about joining the GCO, Institute for Government researchers find, though the reforms to improve commercial capability are already making an impact

Later this year, ownership of much of the government estate will be passed to a new Government Property Agency – with departments charged market-level rent for their offices in a bid to drive down costs. Mark Leftly listens in as the GPA's top team explains why the new approach to the government's estate is about more than just saving money

Reform think tank calls for rethink on civil service management style as it predicts more than 130,000 administrative-level civil service jobs could be automated in the next ten years

Automation will need to be handled with sensitivity by managers – but any upgrade in public services must start with the workforce, argues Alexander Hitchcock of the Reform think tank

Praise for outgoing Rural Payments Agency chief after troubled period, as Defra announces that Paul Caldwell is stepping up to serve as interim CEO

FDA and Prospect argue enhanced salaries but thin pension offer for staff in the new Government Commercial Organisation will deter civil service interest and fail to attract real private sector talent