HR

FDA general secretary Dave Penman questions why proposals will allow open selection processes to be ditched

Walport will serve as sole accounting officer for the powerful new research funding umbrella body

First Civil Service Commissioner Ian Watmore tells CSW that departments will now be able to bring in senior staff for up to three years and on a maximum salary of £142,000 without having to go through an open recruitment process

Praise for outgoing Rural Payments Agency chief after troubled period, as Defra announces that Paul Caldwell is stepping up to serve as interim CEO

FDA and Prospect argue enhanced salaries but thin pension offer for staff in the new Government Commercial Organisation will deter civil service interest and fail to attract real private sector talent

Caroline Nokes says savings from estate programme will be used to fund recruitment of frontline advisers, but MPs, including Tory backbenchers, raise concerns over access for claimants

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

Exclusive: Cabinet secretary says reform agenda remains "strongly supported by ministers" after several key Francis Maude-era initiatives are scrapped, but stresses focus on "embedding leadership at a departmental level"

Exclusive: Cabinet secretary tells CSW that Theresa May feels "very strongly that she and other ministers were elected on a Conservative Party manifesto that must still stand", as he stands by the decision to set up two new Brexit-focused departments

Mark Thurston to leave engineering consultancy giant CH2M for new £650k a-year role

Estates strategy proposes opening five new large service centres and 50 shared-site operations

HMRC chief says Building Our Future plans will save more than reported by the National Audit Office earlier this month, but admits keeping hold of local knowledge will be a challenge if staff cannot relocate