HR

HMRC has changed the role of its second permanent secretary in an attempt to eliminate the problems that dogged the tenure of departing incumbent Dave Hartnett.

The group tasked with reforming the civil service Fast Stream wants to introduce a right to undertake training and secondments, the group’s head Lin Homer has told CSW. She hopes to make the changes quickly, and suggested that they may affect all current fast streamers.

First civil service commissioner Sir David Normington has called for the Treasury’s scoping review of tax arrangements across the senior civil service to be extended, to ascertain whether the people involved are full civil servants or interim managers.

Departmental select committee chairs have provided mixed reviews of the departments they scrutinise for a Civil Service World Special Report, which has found that 40 per cent of them are dissatisfied with departments’ responses to their reports.

Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude wants the Fast Stream programme to be halved to two years, but plans have been delayed because departments are pushing for a compromise, CSW has learned.

An academy to develop project leadership skills among senior officials, launched this week by Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude, will become a model for addressing skills gaps across government, according to head of the civil service Sir Bob Kerslake.

Treasury chief secretary Danny Alexander has ordered a review into the salary arrangements for “all senior consultancy appointments” after the revelation Ed Lester, chief executive at the Student Loans Company (SLC), was paid through a consultancy firm in order to reduce tax on his salary package.

The civil service trade unions are appealing against a High Court ruling that upholds the legality of the government’s decision to link public sector pensions to the CPI measure of inflation rather than the more generous RPI measure.

Civil service leaders should take more risks when making promotions to bring a wider range of skills into senior teams, environment permanent secretary Bronwyn Hill has said.