Leadership

From this month, every big scheme run by Whitehall departments will be overseen by the Major Projects Authority. Suzannah Brecknell meets David Pitchford – the man charged with overseeing and improving your projects.

A key adviser to three chancellors and three prime ministers, Number 10 permanent secretary Jeremy Heywood has spent twenty years at the epicentre of political power. In his first ever interview, he speaks to Matt Ross.

Permanent secretaries are clear about the task ahead, says Matt Ross: supporting and empowering their staff.

At Defra, Helen Ghosh ditched Whitehall’s traditional departmental structure in favour of a fluid, project-based system. Now, she tells Matt Ross, we’re facing an even greater revolution in relations between the centre and the front line

The new National Security Council will draw a range of departments into crucial decisions on security. Matt Ross reports on the coalition’s attempt to win cross-government consensus in a complex and unpredictable world.

If the election produces a hung Parliament, civil servants will look to Scotland, which has seen both a coalition and a minority government. Ruth Keeling gets some tips from its permanent secretary, Sir John Elvidge

A new report from influential think-tank the Institute for Government recommends a stronger, strategy-setting centre of government. Many see the logic, but wonder how it could be achieved. Matthew O’Toole reports.

The Homes and Communities Agency has its formal launch on 1 December, charged with fostering housebuilding and regeneration. The economic climate could barely be more daunting – but Matt Ross finds its new head, Sir Bob Kerslake, characteristically relaxed