Government Tax Profession

Department of Health says “military level” contingency planning in place to ensure emergency care will continue

Two new proposed tenders aim to simplify mobile working through use of the cloud

Online payments firm Stripe – which handles payments for Kickstarter – among those chosen in revamped approach to government merchant services

Union's deputy general secretary says 1% average pay rise cap is "not sustainable", after government gives departments more freedom to reward "outstanding" senior officials

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

Best performing councils could be allowed to run their own academy chains, in a bid to mollify Tory MPs concerned about full academisation

Donnelly says department is spending £168,000 a year on putting Sheffield and London staff up in hotels – but local MP Paul Blomfield says the BIS perm sec's latest answers give only a "half truth"

Public Accounts Committee warns departments still "do not know their future resource needs and will have to resort more often to using consultants and temporary staff"

Standards and Testing Agency chief executive Jennifer Coupland blames "failure to follow appropriate clearance processes" and apologises to parents and teachers

Government sets out response as Senior Salaries Review Body warns some managers earning less than their juniors – but FDA blasts "sticking plaster" approach

Meg Hillier and Iain Wright demand detail on BIS restructuring – after permanent secretary Martin Donnelly says the department cannot give figures while redundancy talks continue

Department points out that shift to include spending on war pensions and intelligence gathering falls within Nato guidelines