CBI director-general John Cridland writes (CSW p4, 12 April 2012) that the government has made little progress with its public service reforms over the past nine months. Those working in health and education witnessing major changes being pushed through might beg to differ, as might the civil servants trying to make sense of proposals from ministers for the ‘right to challenge’, ‘right to provide’ and now the ‘right to choose’.

Civil servants in the Department of Health (DH) have raised concerns over its approach to policymaking, its risk-assessment skills and its effectiveness at consulting stakeholders, an exclusive opinion poll for CSW has found.

The legal clock is ticking for the government, as ministers must decide next week whether to release the NHS transition risk register or appeal again against the Information Tribunal’s decision that it should be published.

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.

A care manager says cuts can drive useful change – but uncertainty prevents it

The NHS could host commercial advertising on its website in the near future, a deputy director at the Department of Health said on Monday at a seminar held by CSW in conjunction with the Post Office.

Different targets and better joint working between health and social care agencies would improve the ambulance service, says this week’s Frontliner

After nearly 22 months, the Commons select committees’ first elected chairs have had plenty of time to size up their Whitehall counterparts. Joshua Chambers asked them how the departments they watch have been performing

Departmental select committee chairs have provided mixed reviews of the departments they scrutinise for a Civil Service World Special Report, which has found that 40 per cent of them are dissatisfied with departments’ responses to their reports.

The civil service has to develop specialist policymaking skills, says Lord Darzi – and that requires topical professional qualifications

A doctor says the NHS’s priorities are all wrong: pettifogging rules are rigorously enforced, but the Working Time Directive is pretty much ignored