Foreign Affairs

Referrals from Scottish police to crime agency have risen rapidly

UK secret service bodies, MI5, MI6 and GCHQ, will start a recruitment drive for more Russian and Mandarin linguists this month.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has announced the three private sector companies who have been offered contracts to deliver its £164bn equipment plan. 

HM Revenue and Customs will gain greater ability to clamp down on tax evaders following the signing of an international agreement on tax evasion at the Global Forum in Berlin today. 

The Defence Select Committee chair has criticised the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) prioritising management skills over local expertise in its overseas staff, and expressed scepticism over the UK’s approach to developing strategy. 

Chief of the Met police Bernard Hogan-Howe has said he “welcomes” Home Secretary Theresa May’s pause on the review of whether counter-terrorism should stay a policing function.

Phil Gormley, deputy director-general of the National Crime Agency (NCA), outlined the key crimes the UK recognise as falling under the tier two threat of ‘serious and organised crime’. 

The threat of serious and organised crime should be given recognition when discussing national security, according to the National Crime Agency (NCA). 

Margaret Hodge today stated that confusion at the centre of government is impacting on the government’s ability to “deliver value for taxpayers’ money”.

A National Audit Office (NAO) report reveals the number of foreign national offenders (FNOs) deported from the UK remains broadly unchanged whilst the number of FNOs in prison has increased by 4% since 2006 despite a tenfold increase in Home Office staff working on FNO cases. 

The chief of the Met Police has today emphasised the importance of the Home Office’s anti-radicalisation ‘Prevent’ strategy, arguing that "we can't arrest our way out of this problem. We do have to do a lot around prevention. Radicalisation is not an event, it's a process.”

Admiral Lord West predicts that more emergency legislation over monitoring communications is likely to be needed if the Communications Data Bill does not go forward.

Developments in public service reform from around the world

Paul Pugh, chief executive of the Passport Office, has been accused of a “complete management failure” by the Home Affairs Select Committee. In a report published today, the committee calls for the office to be abolished and its functions to be returned to the direct control of ministers.

Iain Rennie, state services commissioner at the New Zealand Government, tells Civil Service World about the strengths and weaknesses of his home civil service

FCO historian Richard Smith explains his department’s response to the Great War

The Home Office has today been ordered to pay US defence contractor Raytheon Systems more than £220m by an arbitration tribunal considering the termination of the e-borders contract.

Jaime Perez-Renovales, subsecretary to the Presidency, Spanish Government, tells Civil Service World about the strengths and weaknesses of his home civil service

Top New Zealand official Iain Rennie is reforming a system often lauded in the UK. Suzannah Brecknell reports

The international trade treaties currently being negotiated between the USA and EU and around the Pacific area threaten the kind of bail-outs that have rescued Greece, Ireland, Portugal and other EU countries, according to Ngaire Woods, dean of the Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford University.

The National Security Strategy (NSS) does not have sufficient contingency plans, creating a “dangerous and unwise” situation that could cause problems for the UK, a parliamentary committee warns today.

The government’s One Government Overseas initiative is designed to save money and improve services by fostering collaboration between civil servants working outside the UK. Winnie Agbonlahor examines its impact