HR

The new chief executive of the civil service will only have “sufficient authority” if he/she reports directly to the prime minister, rather than Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood, John Healey, co-founder of new think-tank GovernUp, has said.

On 27 March, Lucy Powell MP asked 21 departments to explain: what proportion of civil servants, of each sex and grade, work part-time.

John Hirst, chief executive of the Met Office, is leaving the civil service in September after seven years in the role.

Passport workers are on a 24-hour strike today over a pay dispute and staff shortages, with the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) claiming these workers earn as much as £3,000 less than other Home Office staff doing similar roles.

Border Force director general Sir Charles Montgomery rejected suggestions by Home Affairs Select Committee chair Keith Vaz (pictured) that 250 border guards are suing the organisation over its new “itchy” uniforms.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) “should urgently invest in its operational, technical and commercial skills,” a report by the National Audit Office has found.

The Civil Service Competency Framework should be updated to require all staff to have minimum skills in critical thinking, quantitative analysis and digital skills, according to think tank Policy Exchange.

The majority  (88%) of civil servants believe their department needs more training in order to be able to take advantage of cloud computing, according to a survey carried out by Civil Service World and cloud services provider Eduserv.

Marks & Spencer chair Robert Swannell (pictured) has been made chair of the Advisory Board of the Shareholder Executive. Swannell has been a non-executive director there since January 2014, and will take up the new role in September.

More than two thirds (70%) of civil service managers are coming under pressure to designate 10% of their staff as poorly performing under the new performance management system, according to a survey carried out by Civil Service World.

New figures given to parliament suggest that women, ethnic minorities and disabled staff are winning a smaller proportion of promotions than was the case in 2009. Suzannah Brecknell examines the data to find out more

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has become the first public sector organisation to achieve Gold Status on the industry-judged Disability Standard.