Government Tax Profession

The government should conduct a comprehensive review of its interventions in Afghanistan in 2001, the Commons’ Defence Committee said in a report on Tuesday. This should encompass not just military operations, but all the UK’s work under the NATO and UN missions.

NHS Property Services was set up as a limited company to manage the NHS property portfolio without a formal business case being produced to support that decision, the National Audit Office has found in a report published this month.

The Lords’ European Union Committee has called for the creation of a cross-government communications strategy regarding the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) – a proposed free trade agreement between the EU and the US.

Departments need more flexibility on pay so that civil service organisations don’t feel the need for “bureaucratic reorganisations” designed to escape pay controls and enable them to recruit skilled staff, the Public Accounts Committee has said.

A lack of clarity on pre-election rules are causing officials to “do things on the sly for ministers”, according to the Institute for Government (IfG), which has this week published a report into the final year of the coalition government.

Three quarters of British people view strong data security as the most important feature of government’s online services, according to a survey carried out by YouGov for Deloitte, and nearly one fifth of people avoid using digital services because they don’t want to share data online.

An intergovernmental committee is required to formalise the relationship between the Welsh and UK governments so that it “doesn’t depend on individual good relationships between people”, Noel Lloyd, a member of the Commission on Devolution in Wales, has told the Welsh Affairs Select Committee.

Government’s proposed reforms to the judicial review process lack evidence and would limit access to justice, according to a report published today by the Joint Committee on Human Rights.

The civil service must fight for Britain’s economic interests in Europe, even in the absence of a coherent government EU policy, the former chief executive of UK Trade & Investment has said.

Leadership of change and management information are the top cross-government priorities for improving capabilities, the government’s 11 published departmental improvement plans (DIPs) reveal.

Sir Nicholas Macpherson, the Treasury permanent secretary, has told MPs that he decided to publish his advice warning the chancellor against a currency union with an independent Scotland because it was “vital to the national interest”.

The Government Digital Service (GDS) and the business department (BIS) will establish a cross-government digital capability and skills programme to help citizens use digital services.