Operational Delivery

Reports claim Whitehall has ethical concerns about former prime minister's "brazen" request for peerages and other honours for former aides

Major speech by the head of the public spending watchdog warns ministers to stop asking the civil service to run on "perpetual overload"

Commercial Standards are getting an overhaul, the Cabinet Office confirms, but wider "Blueprints" are still not finished

Watchdog says "less transactional" process is required and criticises Single Departmental Plans for failing to meet transparency goals

DfE says introduction of the new Schools Funding Formula will now start in 2018-19 to allow for further consultation

National Audit Office says HMRC must not make taxpayers "underwrite the risk of failure through service breakdowns" – as tax expert tells CSW the timetable for Making Tax Digital may need to be reset

Department for Work and Pensions' director general tells MPs that policy changes are behind new timescales

Foreign Affairs Committee lays into decision not to let departments plan for a vote to leave the European Union – and warns that the new Brexit department must not deprive the Foreign Office of resources

 Former head of the Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure, which reports to MI5, is drafted in to replace Home Office void left by departure of Olly Robbins

John Manzoni tells MPs that departments and their agencies should be seen as a "total delivery system", with departments best placed to decide the level of oversight needed​

Theresa May arrives at Number 10 with years of experience on the government's key decision-making body on security. Dr Joe Devanny of the International Centre for Security Analysis takes a look at what the new government will mean for the way departments support prime ministers on national security issues

Amid all the drama of last week’s arrival of a new government, it was easy to miss the launch of the Civil Service Workforce Plan. But, as Suzannah Brecknell explains, it’s a document that could have major implications for the future of the organisation as it grapples with the big challenges ahead

Former special adviser to universities minister David Willetts says moving higher education policy to the Department for Education creates an "extra layer of uncertainty" at a time when institutional memory is needed

Ex-Cabinet Office minister defends lack of contingency planning – but acknowledges dearth of trade deal expertise

Hancock replaced by ex-junior health minister Ben Gummer in key job determining civil service policy

Former FCO chief insists old department will be "absolutely at the heart of" new prime minister's task of quitting the European Union

Exclusive: Civil service workforce plan launches with promise to increase specialisation, improve training – and review the civil service "reward offer"

Institute for Government warns of "time, cost and distraction that would inevitably come from creating an entirely new organisation"

Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy says lack of Brexit planning "indicated the prioritisation of political interests above national security,"

National Audit Office issues another qualification of department’s accounts and says fraud and error levels remain “unacceptably high”

Watchdog suggests Home Office and NHS England tighten joint-working arrangements in future outsourcing deals

Foreign secretary tells MPs that government wanted to avoid making "an unwarranted intervention in the course of the campaign" over Britain's place in the European Union

Oliver Letwin tells Foreign Affairs committee that the Brexit unit has no budgetary constraints so far, though it currently only exists in “virtual” form

Department for Work and Pensions' (DWP) 85,000 staff will be encouraged to save with member-owned financial institutions