Foreign Affairs

The Foreign Office has moved to calm fears of a big rise in the charges asked of other government bodies who’ve taken office space in its buildings overseas.

Like our armed forces, the civil service’s battle against waste is split between three commands. Joshua Chambers examines the Institute for Government’s ideas for turning these scattered forces into an effective fighting force

The government last week published advice given by HM Treasury permanent secretary Sir Nicholas Macpherson, cautioning the chancellor against a currency union with an independent Scotland.

Mark Lowcock

Permanent Secretary of the Department for International Development

Mark Lowcock, permanent secretary of the Department for International Development, this week apologised to Parliament after one of DfID’s programmes failed to make use of millions of pounds.

Like every government department, the MoD must enact widespread job cuts – but its task is made uniquely difficult by the political sensitivities around armed forces redundancies. Winnie Agbonlahor investigates

There will be no further cuts to the civil service at the Ministry of Defence (MoD), but the Army could suffer more redundancies, according to Jon Thompson, the ministry’s permanent secretary.

While James Bond relies on Q for his gadgets, Britain’s armed forces use the MoD’s Defence, Science and Technology Laboratory. Its chief executive Jonathan Lyle talks to Joshua Chambers about DSTL’s work

Government’s Major Projects Portfolio is regularly assessed to look for warning signs that indicate a programme is going awry. CSW has researched key projects in four departments to gauge the performance of civil service project managers.

In a Special Report published in CSW on 25 September, we examined 12 major projects: three each from the defence, transport, health, and work & pensions departments. We chose projects of a range of types, and covering the ‘traffic light’ risk spectrum from green to red. The text below covers one of the four departments: click here to read our introduction and methodology.

New Zealand's civil service believes that their central government needs one single web portal. Their digital team write about how they’ve taken inspiration from gov.uk.

In a rare public appearance at Civil Service Live earlier this month a GCHQ official warned civil servants about IT security. Joshua Chambers listened in

Though their origins lie in military applications, drones are increasingly being used in a civilian context. Winnie Agbonlahor reports on how the public sector might capitalise on the opportunities around unmanned aircraft.

Benjamin Franklin once spoke of the perils of sacrificing precious liberty for a little temporary security. His words have a powerful resonance following the saga of state surveillance exposed in recent weeks.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) officials believe the department will be criticised by Sir John Chilcot’s inquiry into the Iraq War over the poor state of its record-keeping, according to its 2012-13 departmental improvement plan published last month.

Alex Ellis has just left his post as the FCO’s director of strategy to become ambassador to Brazil. On his last day in the job, Winnie Agbonlahor learns how he’s tried to encourage greater self-criticism in a department not known for its self-lacerating humility.

The Cabinet Office has established a new structure, chaired by cabinet secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood, to improve government’s long term planning, Civil Service World can reveal.

Government must plan ahead for long-term social, economic and environmental change, so it employs ‘horizon scanners’ to predict likely scenarios. Joshua Chambers looks at what the future holds for this unusual profession.

Most central government departments will have to cut spending by two per cent over the next two years in order to fund a £2.5bn investment in infrastructure, it has been reported.

The National Security Council has improved Whitehall’s planning and coordination. But it’s been busiest where the bullets have been flying, and there are doubts over its scrutiny of less obvious dangers. Stuart Watson reports.

Whitehall experts have backed former cabinet secretary Lord Butler in calling for all departments to appoint historical advisers, CSW can reveal.

Ministers & officials must also put those lessons into practice.

On February 21, a seminar was held in the Foreign Office to mark the publication of a book by the head of the FCO Historical Section, Gill Bennett, called ‘Six Moments of Crisis’. The book discusses six major foreign policy decisions taken since the Second World War. These were the decision to send British troops to Korea in 1950; the Suez invasion; the first application to join the European Economic Community; the withdrawal of British forces from East of Suez; the expulsion of 109 Soviet diplomats; and the sending of the Task Force to recover the Falklands.

New Zealand is reforming its government structures to promote cross-departmental working. Dr Jonathan Coleman explains how.