Education

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. Ordnance Survey chief executive Nigel Clifford takes part in our biggest-ever perm secs' round-up series...

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. Richard Heaton, Ministry of Justice permanent secretary and civil service-wide Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) champion, takes part in our biggest-ever perm secs' round-up series...

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 Chief Inspector of Schools, Sir Michael Wilshaw, takes part in our biggest-ever perm secs' round-up series...

KPMG and Hay Group win first two lots as Cabinet Office makes changes to the way departments buy training courses

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

Welsh first minister says there is “no real machinery for a regular heads of government meeting” – as Silk Commission chair reveals he considered calling for separate civil service.

New 'specialist' payscale to help recruitment, staff cuts at the Cabinet Office, Single Departmental Plans, the future of civil service reform, details on a brand new leadership academy – as the civil service chief executive and minister for the Cabinet Office face MPs, CSW tries to keep up...

PCS union accuses driver agency of "petty-minded response" to staff who took earlier strike action

Former Ministry of Justice permanent secretary says technology-enabled flexible working can help disabled civil servants progress in their careers, even in an era of prolonged cut-backs

Fiscal watchdog predicts 0.1m drop in public sector workforce by 2020, but says pay restraint will reduce need for cuts

How smart is your team? Bruce Mann, executive director of the Government Property Unit, on the importance of smart working and how the civil service is celebrating and supporting teams who want to adopt it

Strategic Defence and Security Review sets out aim of reducing MoD civilian staff numbers to 41,000 – with unions warning that the scale of cuts could have frontline ramifications

Tim Loughton says DfE officials questioned making a “special case” of the Kids Company charity – while Cabinet Office minister Oliver Letwin is quizzed on where the “buck stops” for its final round of public funding

The Department for Business, Innovation & Skills may be facing a tough Spending Review settlement, but permanent secretary Martin Donnelly tells Matt Foster that the “honest and open” culture at BIS will endure – whatever the chancellor decides

National Cyber Centre to open in Cheltenham, George Osborne announces, amid flurry of security spending announcements in the wake of the Paris terror attacks

The Official View: Fiona Mactaggart – a Home Office minister in Tony Blair's government – tells us about gossiping perm secs and why she believes politicians should have a greater say in choosing their officials

Additional intelligence officers to be announced in Strategic Defence and Security Review 

Stinging report by the Public Accounts Committee says government funding to the collapsed charity was “never seriously questioned, let alone stopped”

As departments go digital, civil service leaders will have to grapple with the physical disconnection that more flexible ways of working can bring

With science and research spending already below the OECD average, new report by the Science and Technology Committee calls on the Treasury to "safeguard both the quality and the productivity of our science base"

New "Office for Students" and Teaching Excellence Framework among measures in business department's Green Paper

Garry Graham – taking over from Leslie Manasseh at the union for specialists and managers – calls for "cool appraisal" of performance management by ministers

Cabinet Office minister Matt Hancock sets up a new group to help departments to become "intelligent consumers of their own data" – and promises lunchtime coding groups for civil servants. Audience members at the Open Data Institute meanwhile quiz him on the privatisation of the Postcode Address File

Public Accounts Committee says it is surprised DfE "did not take a stronger leadership role" in support for care leavers amid "disappointing service provision"