Articles

Cabinet Office says contracts for private firms running public services will include 'presumption in favour of disclosing information' to the public

From the homeless and crime victims to the abused children of Rotherham, Louise Casey has spent her career fighting for society’s most vulnerable. Sarah Aston meets her. Photos by Tal Cohen

Institute for Government urges greater focus on collaboration and long-term planning

Independent Commission for Aid Impact says security and justice work lacks focus, but praises more targeted efforts in Malawi and Bangladesh

Julie Tankard, vice president for central government, police & security at BT (pictured), shares her thoughts on what the civil service can learn from BT’s smarter working initiatives and vice versa. Sarah Aston reports

Paul McDowell quits following concerns over bidding contracts with his wife’s company

Why are select committees so rude? Yes, they must challenge witnesses – but there’s no need to be disrespectful

The Somerset Rivers Authority (SRA) will receive joint funding from the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) and Somerset County Council as part of the Somerset Action Plan (SAP), it was announced Monday 8 December. 

The UK Space Agency and UK scientists are celebrating the landmark touchdown of Rosetta’s Philae lander — the first ever landing on a comet yesterday. 

Finance professionals across government should “get on the front foot” and make sure they’re involved in the policymaking process, the government’s new director-general of public spending, Julian Kelly, has said.

Improving Europe’s railway systems would lead to substantial economic and environmental benefits, argues Izaskun Bilbao Barandica.

Whitehall needs to build stronger specialist skills; CSW editor Matt Ross argues, it will only succeed if it’s willing to challenge the status quo

Susanne Baker, senior climate & environment policy adviser at EEF, the Manufacturer’s Organisation

Former Cabinet Office perm sec Ian Watmore explains why the Olympics worked so well – and how officials avoided pitfalls such as political meddling and hasty deadlines

A monthly interview with people who've crossed organisational and sectoral boundaries to join a new working world.

Perspectives from outside the civil service

Cloud technologies could help build the civil service of tomorrow, but there are substantial challenges to overcome. Gill Hitchcock reports on a round table discussion of how civil servants can make the most of cloud services to support organisational reform. Photos by Derek Goard

Chris Wormald tells Winnie Agbonlahor how he's trying to raise the standard of policymaking across government - without imposing too much central control

The new set of published perm secs' objectives seem much improved, but are they really what they claim to be? Report by Samera Owusu Tutu. Illustration by John Levers.

"I trailblazed freedom of information on Whitehall"

 

TCS is keen to contribute to the topic of successful partnerships between the public and private sectors. We have developed some significant partnerships with government now and with the benefit of five years of working within those partnerships, we can impart some hopefully valuable insights.

Malcolm Stirling, Business Consultant, Monster Worldwide Ltd

Jaime Perez-Renovales, subsecretary to the Presidency, Spanish Government, tells Civil Service World about the strengths and weaknesses of his home civil service

The £15.8bn Crossrail programme was commended for demonstrating good programme management by a Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report, published yesterday.