Analysis

New appointments this week in the civil service, UK politics, and public affairs, via our colleagues on Dods Monitoring

Louise Hart, author of Procuring Successful Mega-Projects and a former project director for the establishment of major transport infrastructure contracts in Sydney and London, explains that when it comes to setting up major government contracts, learning from experience is commendable, but learning from other people’s experience is much less painful

What’s life like at the sharp end of public services? A modern foreign languages teacher tells Sarah Aston about the pros and cons of changes to the schools system

As the purse strings tighten, government departments are seeing the benefits of working together. Tim Gibson reports from a CSW roundtable that explored how best to make collaboration happen

Throughout his premiership, David Cameron’s inner circle has remained remarkably consistent. Historian and author Anthony Seldon runs through the men and women who make 10 Downing Street tick

What do David Cameron’s changes at the centre tell us about his government? Jill Rutter from the Institute for Government analyses the new team around the PM

Ahead of Wednesday's budget, here's CSW's round-up of the civil service in the news, including the latest on possible job cuts, and a memo from the HMRC's Lin Homer on the latest "disappointing" demand for new savings

As Matt Hancock takes up post as Cabinet Office minister in charge of efficiency and civil service reform, Sam Faroqui assesses his career to date

As the country goes to the polls, here's CSW's full guide to what the 2015 election will mean for the civil service

Senior civil servants are used to facing tough questioning from select committees. Elizabeth Bates looks at what the next parliament might have in store for these powerful groups of MPs

Thirty three companies take the lion’s share of central government procurement spending, between them receiving roughly £10bn of Whitehall money each year. But who are they? Do they truly understand the public sector? And do civil servants trust them? Rebecca Sims-Robinson crunches the numbers.

Policy-makers around the world are using open data to bolster their development programmes, says Liz Carolan of the Open Data Institute

Whitehall expert Akash Paun gives a crash course in what to expect in the event of another indecisive election result

In the second of CSW's in-depth assessments of the party manifestos, Mark Rowe picks apart the Tory document to find out what the party has in store for the civil service

Former health secretary (2010-12) Andrew Lansley talks to Civil Service World about his best and worst experiences of working with the civil service

Former environment secretary (2010-12) talks to Civil Service World about her best and worst experiences of working with the civil service, clearing her desk post-reshuffle, and why she believes Whitehall training could be boosted by secondment to the private or voluntary sectors

Courtesy of our colleagues at Dods Monitoring, here's a sector-by-sector summary of the main measures in Chancellor George Osborne's Budget.

The government's customer service must better suit user needs, according to a CSW webchat

Lord Levene hails a ‘sea change’ at the MoD

The chancellor of the exchequer’s final Autumn Statement of this Parliament provided an update on the government's economic plans. Our sister service, Dods Monitoring, analysed the Statement sector by sector. 

Chancellor of the exchequer George Osborne is due to give his Autumn Statement today (Wednesday 3 December) at 12:30pm. So what can be expected?

Audrey Collins, a record specialist at The National Archives, looks back at the impact of the First World War on the civil service