Civil Service Reform

Open Data Barometer finds that the UK government is still top for releasing open data – but France, Canada and Mexico are snapping at its heels

PCS study of almost 25,000 civil servants, including managers, finds widespread concern about the way performance management is working in practice

New body to be set up amid concerns over the use of big data, with Cabinet Office also drawing up new framework for government data science

Cabinet Office review prompts fresh distinctions between executive agencies (EAs), non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) and non-ministerial departments (NMDs)

National Audit Office says probation services "have been sustained throughout a period of major changes" – but warns of "unsurprising frictions" between private and public sector staff

BIS perm sec seeks to justify closure of Sheffield site, and says departmental cuts will mean reducing headcount by 30%-40% "over time"

Cabinet Office minister says distributed ledgers could offer a "better way" of monitoring the distribution of government cash

Former chief of defence materiel, who left the civil service at the end of 2015, to carry out progress review for the MoD on equipment buying

Open data organisation co-founded by Sir Tim Berners-Lee says proposed model for the privately-owned Land Registry "appears very similar to historic examples of long-term outsourcing deals and risks repeating the same mistakes"

Two new proposed tenders aim to simplify mobile working through use of the cloud

Online payments firm Stripe – which handles payments for Kickstarter – among those chosen in revamped approach to government merchant services

Union's deputy general secretary says 1% average pay rise cap is "not sustainable", after government gives departments more freedom to reward "outstanding" senior officials

Donnelly says department is spending £168,000 a year on putting Sheffield and London staff up in hotels – but local MP Paul Blomfield says the BIS perm sec's latest answers give only a "half truth"

Public Accounts Committee warns departments still "do not know their future resource needs and will have to resort more often to using consultants and temporary staff"

Government sets out response as Senior Salaries Review Body warns some managers earning less than their juniors – but FDA blasts "sticking plaster" approach

Meg Hillier and Iain Wright demand detail on BIS restructuring – after permanent secretary Martin Donnelly says the department cannot give figures while redundancy talks continue

Border Force resource budget will be £558.1m for 2016/17 – a cut of 0.4% on last year – but the agency gets a capital spending boost

Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Select Committee asks whether civil service in its current form is "appropriate for the twenty-first century" – and whether Whitehall's pay policy for officials is up to scratch

Microsoft demonstrates how several health organisations have successfully transformed their service delivery

Two new data and statistics centres to be created at the Office for National Statistics HQ in Newport, while an “increased London presence” is planned to improve its the organisations relationship with users

Government's top IT official taking on newly-created role of national technology adviser

Mental health, musculoskeletal disorders and encouraging healthy lifestyles top priorities for newly-created cross-Whitehall role

New digital hire will head up plan to help departments share common digital platforms and oversee budget "in excess" of £15m a year

Social enterprise takes over reins of public sector development programme as government ends centrally-funded support