Commercial

New unit set up in department to tackle safeguarding across the aid sector

The fall of construction firm turned outsourcing giant Carillion comes at a time when criticism of private provision of public services is rising. Richard Johnstone looks at Whitehall’s response and takes soundings for the future

Call for changes to insolvency rules to make it easier for companies to recover from financial difficulties

Treasury has handed £150m to official receiver for overseeing company’s liquidation, it has been revealed 

Proposals indicate that the firm, which went out of business last month, expected to be able to get double its profit margins on some Whitehall contracts

Crown Commercial Service has put together a £16m four-year framework with six suppliers offering “nudge theory” advice

Data shows scale of challenge to remove single use plastics from across Whitehall

Shadow body overseeing hubs programme and New Property Model expected to go live last year

Labour warns of another outsourcing crisis after third major government contractor issues profit warning

1,000 staff to transfer from collapsed outsourcing provider to new Whitehall-owned company to maintain work across 52 prisons

Debate on how to deliver public services hears that the era of choice and competition may be coming to an end

Committee to investigate after government “flatly rejected” proposals to beef up the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments

Plan also proposes “radically” reducing pay differentials between director general roles across departments, but any pay increase above the 1% cap in 2018-19 will need to be paid for by productivity improvements

Perm sec Richard Heaton admitted to being “startled and stunned” by the over-ambitious scheme

Think tank has called on the government to undertake “thorough review of the public sector’s relationship with contractors” amid sector’s woes.

Public Accounts Committee warns “a lot at stake” with Carrier Strike programme 

Cabinet Office has reportedly been monitoring the firm since last September amid fears for future

Cabinet secretary tells MPs Whitehall is looking at ways to reward civil servants who stay in their jobs for longer

Public administration select committee announces new inquiry into risks of outsourcing following collapse of contractor Carillion

David Lidington said it would not have been responsible for the government to bail out the firm that works on rail projects as well as managing prisons and providing school meals

Government claims 10-year plan to converge back office services will save millions of pounds

Department seeks supplier to bring two programmes under single service-management structure in £200m-plus project

Reform hailed as evidence of One Team government approach to improving how Whitehall works