Commercial

Spending watchdog to take its first detailed look at the central government procurement agency

National Audit Office says probation services "have been sustained throughout a period of major changes" – but warns of "unsurprising frictions" between private and public sector staff

Former chief of defence materiel, who left the civil service at the end of 2015, to carry out progress review for the MoD on equipment buying

Mismatch between school year used by academies and DfE's own accounting period means parliament cannot properly hold the department to account, says the NAO

Government's top IT official taking on newly-created role of national technology adviser

Social enterprise takes over reins of public sector development programme as government ends centrally-funded support

Mystery Shopper report highlights challenges of encouraging suppliers to form partnerships to bid for government contracts

John Manthorpe accuses government of wanting to "sell the Land Registry for a quick price to reduce the deficit"

Move designed to allow public sector buyers to complete existing procurements before the switch

Decade-long IT contract – underpinning £500bn in tax revenue – to come to an early end

Department must to more to challenge contractors, say MPs, as too many health and disability assessments do not meet acceptable standards despite an increase in the cost per assessment

Infrastructure and Projects Authority says strong public sector involvement coupled with move away from traditional government structures has been a important factor in the success of capital projects like London 2012 and Crossrail

Government Outcomes Lab being set up in partnership with Oxford’s Blavatnik School of Government​ in a bid to assess the impact of outcome-based commissioning ​schemes

PAC says "encouraging signs of change" on the commercial front – but urges Cabinet Office to do more to chase up departments who are failing to make progress

Cabinet Office's Warren Smith wants service to become the first port of call for procurement

PAC report casts doubt on ability of beefed-up major projects watchdog to scrutinise government’s biggest schemes, and calls on Cabinet Office to explain how it will meet skills shortages needed for "transformation"

Review says Department for Transport must do more to shape the future development of the nation's rail infrastructure

CCS chief Collier says independence of exams watchdog Ofqual "one of the attractions" of taking on chief regulator role – and says procurement background no barrier to doing the job

"We take all allegations of impropriety extremely seriously," says justice minister Andrew Selous

Former chief executive of hygiene services firm PHS Group brought in to lead civil service commercial profession

Spending watchdog questions the government’s claims on SME spending, and urges departments to make sure that initiatives to improve commercial capability do not undermine attempts to support small companies

CCS sets out thinking behind replacement of Payroll, Human Resources (HR) and Finance Managed Services (PHRF) framework

All Atos contracts worth more than £10m now under review after public accounts committee said the outsourcing firm had "acted solely with its own short term best interests in mind" on GP data service