Economy

Report by MPs says Eurostar sale was managed well but that government used "over cautious assumptions" and should do more to build in-house corporate finance knowledge

Government should be trialling use of distributed ledger technologies to improve welfare payments, according to a report published today

Sir Nicholas Macpherson – the longest serving Treasury perm sec for sixty years – can be credited with overseeing the rebuilding of the finance ministry. But his successor faces a formidable in-tray

MPs on the Public Accounts Committee says the industry regulator is failing to ensure savings are passed on

New report by the National Audit Office spending watchdog finds that while departmental spending on consultants and temporary staff has plummeted over last five years, latest figures indicate a “short-term reduction rather than a sustainable strategy”

Labour’s new commission – led by the former head of the civil service – can learn a host of lessons from previous bids to wrest power from the chancellor, says our columnist Sue Cameron

Chancellor George Osborne pays tribute to "one of the outstanding public servants of his generation" as Macpherson announces his departure from the civil service

Treasury says "one-off" factors to blame for higher-than-forecast public borrowing

What skills and capabilities are required for overseeing major government projects – and is there a clear enough career path for project managers in the civil service? Colin Marrs reports from a recent CSW round table

With the end of 2015 in sight, we asked Whitehall's top officials to review the year, set out their priorities for 2016 – and shed some light on their festive plans. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) chief executive Lin Homer takes part in our biggest-ever perm secs' round-up series...

Senior Department for Transport official – who has served as deputy director for high speed rail strategy – will head up George Osborne's Commission

Ministers keep talking about hammering down public sector terms to private sector levels, while dreaming up new exemptions in order to compete

Furious online reaction to Spending Review blog prompts response by cabinet secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood and civil service chief executive John Manzoni – with the pair emphasising areas where civil service is more flexible than the private sector

Civil service chief executive John Manzoni says government "making good" on promise to open up public sector procurement to smaller firms

Report by former deputy governor of the Bank of England says 90% of ONS staff were “unwilling to move” out of London, leading to a “loss of knowledge and experience”

Amid reports chancellor looking to cut voluntary civil service redundancy payouts by a further six months – a move first floated in 2010 – unions warn of "war by the government against its own staff"

Former head of the civil service drafts in TUC chief Frances O'Grady and ex-KPMG deputy Alan Buckle to assess whether the Treasury is "fit for purpose"

Institute for Fiscal Studies says talk of "end to austerity" is premature

Chancellor eyes more austerity in first interview since yesterday’s cuts announcements – while the IFS says departmental settlement is "very, very tight"

Ministers reportedly seeking vote on the self-imposed welfare cap after tax credits rethink

CSW rounds up the big Spending Review stories and analysis ahead of the chancellor's statement to the Commons at 12:30pm

The Department for Transport has addressed the causes of the failed West Coast rail franchise, the NAO spending watchdog finds – but risks remain to future competitions as work on HS2 delays the new West Coast franchise by six months

Opinion: A private business of comparable size would give as much data as possible to its leaders, to enable them to assess competing priorities

As the Spending Review looms, Stian Westlake of Nesta argues that reducing the influence of the Treasury could replace the essay-crisis drama of Budgets and Autumn Statements with a more thoughtful budgetary process