Legal

MPs on the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs (PACAC) committee are told that the century-old Haldane convention has been undermined by decades-long shift towards managerialism in the civil service

Special report: With just days to go until the EU referendum, civil servants will soon have more on their plates – whichever way the nation votes. Colin Marrs speaks to former senior officials and top civil service experts about the challenges a Brexit decision would pose for Whitehall, and why the alternative won’t necessarily mean "business as usual"

Former cabinet secretary tells The House magazine that next week's vote is "merely advisory" and says MPs would be entitled to press for a second referendum

Lord Maude of Horsham’s request among appointments watchdog’s latest raft of transparency data

Independent recruitment regulator says campaign group’s league table was factually wrong and misdirected

Information Commissioner Christopher Graham rejects argument that releasing information on former civil service chief Lord Kerslake's peerage would have a "chilling effect" on the honours system

Committee chairman Bernard Jenkin tells CSW it "should not be necessary to badger ministers and officials into doing the right thing", after Leave campaigners pushed to ensure pro-EU websites were not promoted in the final run-up to the referendum

Public and Commercial Services union general secretary says union must have “very important" debate about its future direction, and says PCS is "still standing" in spite of plans to end deduction of union fees from civil servants' pay packets

Competition and Markets Authority says privatised Land Registry could “degrade the terms of access to its monopoly data in order to weaken competition to its own commercial products”

Exclusive: As BIS Sheffield staff go on strike over the department's plan to move policy jobs to London, shadow cabinet office minister Louise Haigh denies that MPs are ignoring the need for departmental reform – and urges better local consultation. Photo credit: Amerjit Basi​

Prison shake-up to form centrepiece of government's new legislative agenda as Queen prepares for the State Opening of Parliament

Ahead of the State Opening of Parliament, think tank says slim Commons majority and tough Spending Review settlements mean government would be wise to focus on key priorities 

Chancellor says Treasury civil servants planning for the impact of leaving the EU on financial stability in the UK – but Number 10 maintains no wider policy planning taking place

MPs warn key details on new Equality and Human Rights Commission chairman "were not forthcoming" as they weighed up conflict of interest concerns

Business minister Anna Soubry says plan to reform relationship between tenants and big pubcos will not come into force next month as planned

Home Office chief points out that enforcement rate for confiscation orders is increasing, even as overall debt pile grows, while Derbyshire police chief Mick Creedon points the finger at legacy of “inflated” targets

New report calls on government to give better detail on city region power structures and spending

Theresa May writes to the Home Affairs Committee chair over Border Force budget, after MPs order second permanent secretary Olly Robbins to face a second evidence session

George Osborne says Brexit would cause UK to "lose tens of billions of pounds in money for our public services" – but eurosceptic MP Bernard Jenkin says chancellor “should be ashamed of himself” for ordering civil servants to draw up Treasury analysis

Plans to change the way key public sector jobs are filled have drawn criticism from the former public appointments watchdog Sir David Normington, who is concerned they hand too much power to ministers. So what are the key concerns and how has the government responded?

PACAC chair Bernard Jenkin makes the case for greater parliamentary role in choosing appointments watchdogs, as Sir Gerry Grimstone rejects claims that his review gives ministers too much power over top jobs

Chairman of the cross-party Liaison Committee writes to David Cameron to say he believes referendum rules for civil servants take too much power from pro-Brexit ministers

Bernard Jenkin says his Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee needs more time to scrutinise the government's choice for public appointments watchdog – and the government has yet to name its preferred candidate for the civil service equivalent

PAC says "encouraging signs of change" on the commercial front – but urges Cabinet Office to do more to chase up departments who are failing to make progress