HR

The civil service has been ranked fifth in the 2013-14 Times Top 100 Graduate Employers in list, published last week.

Three-quarters of civil servants say their department has no way to capture and share information about skills across the organisation, according to a survey carried out by Civil Service World in conjunction with recruitment firm Monster.

Sir Bob Kerslake, the head of the civil service, has rejected claims that structures within Whitehall are preventing open debates about government policy, and emphasised the need for senior leaders to encourage an “open culture in their department where people feel able to raise issues and concerns about progress”.

Michelle Cracknell, currently group commercial director at chartered financial planners LIFT Financial, has been appointed as chief executive of the Pensions Advisory Service (TPAS) today.

Civil servants believe their employers failed to manage talent effectively during their redundancy programmes, a CSW survey has found, with the result that many talented and highly-skilled individuals left the civil service whilst poor performers were allowed to remain.

Two thirds of civil servants believe that culture is the biggest obstacle to introducing flexible working in the civil service, a CSW survey has found.

The government is facing growing problems recruiting into key posts because civil service pay levels are too low, the Civil Service Commission (CSC), has warned.

The government’s Fast Stream programme, which welcomes around 600 graduates into the civil service every year, has scooped a national award.

Civil service project leaders – ‘Senior Responsible Owners’ (SROs) – are to be held directly accountable to parliamentary select committees, Sir Bob Kerslake announced today.

The head of the Major Project Authority (MPA), David Pitchford, today announced that he is stepping down. He will leave in September to return to his home in Australia.

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has criticised the failure of departments to clearly record the use of confidentiality clauses in severance payments to public sector workers.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) officials believe the department will be criticised by Sir John Chilcot’s inquiry into the Iraq War over the poor state of its record-keeping, according to its 2012-13 departmental improvement plan published last month.