Articles

Civil service organisations must be agile to succeed – but they’re bound in chains of hierarchy and deference, argues Robin Ryde

The government’s chief operating officer Stephen Kelly has today announced he will leave the civil service in November to become the chief executive of business software firm Sage Group.

After several bruising years, civil servants need the support and funds to achieve ministers’ goals – or the recovery could prompt an exodus 

Too many organisational cultures push clever people into doing daft things. The solutions start at the top.

Like Robert the Bruce’s persistent spider, the people trying to reform the way the Ministry of Defence buys and manages equipment keep returning to the fray. Colin Marrs reports

John Pullinger has this month started his new job as the UK’s new national statistician. He tells Winnie Agbonlahor about his priorities in the role.

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

The UK Border Agency (UKBA), which was this year abolished by home secretary Theresa May, was “never going to work”, its former chief Rob Whiteman told the Public Administration Select Committee on 17 June.

The civil service is “one of the key players in resisting the devolution” of powers from Whitehall to local authorities, Clive Betts, chair of the Communities and Local Government Select Committee, has told CSW. 

ID Logistics strengthens the performance of its teams in France and globally by using a SaaS-based Learning and Talent Management solution

Cornerstone provide advice on effective approaches for learning management.

Simon Case, the prime minister’s private secretary, will be the new head of the Implementation Unit, cabinet secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood has told CSW.

Civil servants earning £100,000 or more who take redundancy could be forced to pay back some of the cash if they return to the same part of the public sector within a year, under legislation announced in this month's Queen’s Speech.​

Recovering debt from citizens and businesses is about more than just tougher enforcement. 

Since 2010, the government has acted to tackle fraud and error – but its debt recovery operations remain isolated and uncoordinated. Winnie Agbonlahor listens in at a round table debating a major change on the horizon

Efforts to centralise consultancy procurement are not working, according to the Management Consultancies Association (MCA), and may thwart “government’s stated aims of securing efficiency”.

Civil service job cuts and hikes in employees’ pension contributions saved the government almost £4.7bn during 2013-14 – providing a third of its overall efficiency savings and showing a rise of £1.3bn on 2012-13, according to new figures.

It is all very well making cuts, but is the government confident that they are making the right cuts?  We all know you have to speculate to accumulate but is the public sector investing in the right projects?  Is it procuring effectively?

Three top civil servants have written to Public Accounts Committee chairwoman Margaret Hodge, strongly rejecting calls made by her committee for the centre of government to take a stronger lead.

 

Bernard Jenkin, chair of the Public Administration Select Committee, has been championing an inquiry into the future of the civil service – but former cabinet secretaries Lord Gus O'Donnell and Andrew Turnbull believe that any inquiry should also encompass politicians’ failures. CSW editor Matt Ross maps out a path to a very big think about our system of government

In recent times, new delivery challenges and rising tensions between officials and politicians have led to calls for an inquiry into the civil service. Joshua Chambers asks how Whitehall can ensure it has the right tools for the job 

Politicians needs to stop unfairly criticising civil servants and start appreciating their work, Dave Penman, general secretary of the FDA trade union, has said today. 

Highways Agency chief Graham Dalton is wrong to argue that his organisation should become a company, argues Mark Dollar

The government will recruit 100 “digital natives” into its communications arms, comms chief Alex Aiken announced yesterday.