Foreign Affairs

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

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.