Finance

Political climate makes further departmental spending cuts or higher taxes unlikely, report argues

National Audit Office warns shortage of key commercial and cost assurance experts could jeopardise £1.7bn savings target from non-competitive contracts

Steve Allen to leave government-owned company building new rail link after auditors slam unauthorised redundancy payments

Tax authority announces recruitment for top tax post will be limited to existing civil servants

GMB union accuses Treasury of “cover up” after data was not released until threat to refer department to Information Commissioner’s Office 

Protest set to cover Sheffield branch’s final three weeks

Sinn Féin and DUP given two weeks to agree new power-sharing deal or face Westminster intervention on budget

Geoffrey Lyons reviews two books on debt by men who had key roles following the financial crisis

Institute for Government report says universal pay hike could exacerbate Tories’ political woes amid £10bn spending hole

David Williams tells MPs that Department of Health cannot calculate impact of delays to repairs and maintenance spending

As inflation rate hits 3%, TUC warns higher cap on civil service pay increases in line with offer to police officers would still mean a real-terms pay cut