Economy

HMRC's Jim Harra says critics of deal with Google are misunderstanding corporation tax rules – but Labour's John McDonnell renews attack on "very poor deal"

FDA and Prospect urge the Senior Salaries Review Body to back a front-loaded 4% payrise and warn of "divisive" attempts to boost the pay of only a limited number of specialists

Treasury Committee to review HMRC's approach to tax avoidance and consider whether overhaul of corporation tax is needed amid row over deal with search giant Google

Majority of departments will be asked to create new apprenticeships equivalent to 2.3% of their overall staffing levels, BIS confirms

 UK Statistics Authority "deeply concerned" about "unauthorised, widespread sharing of statistics before their publication"

Overall borrowing this year now at £74.2bn,  past the OBR's projection of £68.9bn

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