Economy

Suppliers are interested in low-carbon goods and services, but doubts over demand limit investment. Becky Slack examines carbon compacts, which demonstrate that customers really are hungry for eco-friendly supplies

The coalition promises more public contracts for small businesses – but we’ve heard this language before, without seeing much in the way of results. Becky Slack meets the man tasked with turning rhetoric into reality

The Cabinet Office has scaled back plans for a ‘Giving Summit’ due to fears that the event will be hijacked by debate over the income tax relief cap.

There must be more clarity on the appointment process for the next governor of the Bank of England,  Andrew Tyrie, chair of the Commons Treasury Committee, has told the chancellor. In his open letter, he also calls for his committee to have a veto.

A new report raises concerns over the Treasury’s handling of the financial crisis, and sets out ways in which it should be equipping itself to face the eurozone crisis. Colin Marrs explains and tests its key recommendations.

The Treasury needs to improve its contingency planning, broaden the capability of its staff, and encourage officials to challenge policy orthodoxies if it is to better handle future financial crises, a report has stated.

The last chair of the UK Statistics Authority was a fierce defender of the impartial and objective use of statistics. His replacement, Andrew Dilnot, tells Joshua Chambers how he intends to operate in this sensitive and important role.

DCMS permanent secretary Jonathan Stephens runs a small department with the job of helping people have fun. But Matt Ross learns that, these days, DCMS is focused on the serious business of earning money for UK plc

The final National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) – which was published yesterday – incorporates a set of major improvements on the draft version, the Communities and Local Government Committee chair Clive Betts has said.

Shadow chancellor Ed Balls said at Queen Mary University last week that granting the Bank of England independence in 1997 “increased the power of the Treasury, because it allowed the Treasury to say: ‘Well, I see you want to make that decision, prime minister, and I can see why you’d want to do that, but I’m not sure the independent Bank of England will wear it.”

HMRC has changed the role of its second permanent secretary in an attempt to eliminate the problems that dogged the tenure of departing incumbent Dave Hartnett.