Legal

Department also in the middle of big external recruitment push, perm sec tells MPs

PACAC slams the “absence of safeguards” to ensure prime ministers do not bypass proper cabinet procedures,  and urges government to publish the lessons it has learned from Chilcot Inquiry

Scottish first minister uses hastily-arranged press conference to say she will ask Theresa May for second referendum by spring 2019 

Watchdog’s anger follows government response to committee’s Grimstone Review findings

Three former heads of the civil service – Lords Kerslake, O'Donnell and Turnbull – among those calling for assurances that EU citizens can remain in Britain after Brexit

Government should not be "opposed to consulting the people on the outcome of the negotiations", argues former cabinet secretary

QC who spoke at 7/7 inquest will take up post as terror laws watchdog in March

Ministers brace for parliamentary "ping pong" as peers scrutinise Brexit bill

Ex-first civil service commissioner Sir David Normington calls for new guidance on the relationship between civil servants, ministers and special advisers, as he urges the prime minister and cabinet secretary to make a public statement on the need for impartial officials

MPs quiz three departmental chiefs on the role of special advisers – and the impact of briefings against civil servants

Whitehall insider-turned-academic Richard Mottram says EU referendum and its aftermath underscores the uphill struggle of speaking truth to power

Civil service’s largest trade union seeks judicial review of terms and conditions overhaul

 But devolved parliaments in Holyrood, Cardiff and Stormont will not get binding votes on Article 50

Rob Behrens tells MPs that office relocation and merged operations with local government counterpart can fund investment in complaints handlers

With a snap election looming after the Northern Ireland executive was brought down by a scandal over renewable heat incentives,  Alan Bermingham explores the governance and public finance implications of the Stormont crisis 

"No deal for Britain is better than a bad deal for Britain," says prime minister in major Chatham House address

Sir Nicholas Macpherson says his Treasury predecessor was "instrumental in pulling the country back from the brink in 1976"

Former cabinet secretary "all sorts of details will still remain to be sorted out" after two-year deadline elapses

Proceedings set to last for four days, with a ruling due in the new year

"Anyone found to have leaked sensitive information will be dismissed even where there is no compromise of national security," Heywood tells departmental chiefs

Former top officials warn against centralisation of power with the finance ministry on eve of chancellor Philip Hammond's first Autumn Statement

 Former head of the civil service Lord Kerslake urges government to "pause, review, take stock of what it has in front of it and then revisit the question of capacity"

Downing Street source says "the world has changed" since peers inflicted government defeat on tax credit cuts

Making a success of Brexit does not mean UK should ditch its reputation as a "free, tolerant, outward facing society", says former Foreign Office permanent secretary