Culture

Leaked letter to senior health department official says ministers’ messages have created ‘confusion and additional workload’

Anne Longfield has spent four decades helping disadvantaged young people in one way or another. As she prepares to step down as children’s commissioner for England, she tells Colin Marrs about progress made and the need for better funding to meet current challenges

Department says hundreds of thousands of boxes could be delivered each week as part of shielding plans for those vulnerable to Covid-19

Housing, education and transport are key areas for boosted local control with majority in favour of elected mayors

Tracey Crouch also details Whitehall push-back over fixed-odds betting terminals, Brexit's opportunity cost and ‘complete pain in the arse’ Matt Hancock

Some surprising figures have invited management consultants into Whitehall over the past six decades, although their private-sector expertise has not always been directed where it was needed most

Isabel Hardman’s examination of the inhabitants of parliament reveals some of the factors that have contributed to the country’s current crisis, writes Anthony Fitzsimmons

In the latest of our series about civil service leavers, we meet former deputy principal private secretary to the prime minister Ed Whiting, who is now director of strategy for the Wellcome Trust

In the latest of our series about civil service leavers, we meet former diplomat Lynda Burns who is retraining as a teacher through the NowTeach scheme 

A vivid account by a meritocratic polymath, Lord Levene’s memoirs leave Peter Hennessy pondering why peacetime Britain produces so few ‘fixers’ of his calibre

As the Smiths legend turns 60, Civil Service World looks back to Morrissey’s time on the government paybill

As she steps down from the Department for Digital, Culture Media and Sport, perm sec Dame Sue Owen talks to Suzannah Brecknell about abrasive behaviours, existential crises, and why she’s no longer planning a sybaritic retirement. Photography by Louise Heywood-Schiefer

Has the age of Twitter changed the Foreign Office – or just what we expect from documentaries? Sue Cameron considers the BBC’s recent exploration of the FCO

The biography examines 70 years of history between government and academia as well as the changing relationship between TV and politics

The former permanent secretary of the culture department chews the fat with Suzannah Brecknell

Department for Transport, Ministry of Justice, Cabinet Office and Department for Work and Pensions teams among those honoured at ceremony

Champions who make a difference to staff and service users saluted at Whitehall ceremony