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The Tories will continue Whitehall cuts at the same pace for at least two further years if re-elected for another term in office, chancellor George Osborne has announced today.

HM Passport Office will be abolished and its operations absorbed by the Home Office from 1 October, it has been announced today, and the organisation’s chief executive Paul Pugh will be replaced by a newly-appointed director general.

There is “unfinished business” in civil service reform, former head of the civil service Sir Bob Kerslake said yesterday – including devolving powers away from Whitehall, and breaking down departmental structures. 

Civil servants are due to take part in a one-day strike over pay on Wednesday, 15 October, it has been announced today.

Former head of the civil service Sir Bob Kerslake has said his biggest regret is that the government didn’t publish a civil service diversity plan more quickly.

Oliver Robbins, director-general, civil service, has spoken out in defence of the government’s new Talent Action Plan – designed to promote diversity in the civil service – after a blog about its publication attracted 130 comments on the civil service website.

A total of 200 18-21-year-olds are this week starting the government’s civil service Fast Track apprenticeship scheme.

Senior civil servants often “don’t know what’s going on” with contracts held by their departments and thus spot problems too late, Joshua Reddaway, the National Audit Office’s director for commercial and contracting, has warned.

Paul Pugh, chief executive of the Passport Office, has been accused of a “complete management failure” by the Home Affairs Select Committee. In a report published today, the committee calls for the office to be abolished and its functions to be returned to the direct control of ministers.

The new chief executive of the civil service is likely to "lack the authority he/she needs to help drive forward real reform”, according to shadow Cabinet Office minister Michael Dugher.

Sir Jeremy Heywood has this week taken over the role of head of the civil service from Sir Bob Kerslake, who in July announced his forthcoming retirement.

Former Credit Suisse chief information officer Magnus Falk has this week started his new role as government deputy chief technology officer, one of 100 senior digital specialists brought into government over the past year.