Policy

Former aide to the prime minister says officials "directly and explicitly" told Downing Street EU freedom of movement would undermine pledge to bring net migration below 100,000

Justice committee warns the Ministry of Justice against seeking to "represent the quality of its evidence base to be higher than it is" after senior legal figures criticise research into court fees

Public and Commercial Services union says it will "continue the pressure on BIS" over decision to axe Sheffield office, as staff kick off latest round of industrial action

Exclusive: Outgoing head of charity leaders’ network ACEVO criticises Cabinet Office over plans to support private business using civil society funds – but the department says it wants to "explore the potential of an untapped area of the economy"

Communities committee chair Clive Betts says councils are "worried that their spending needs and the funding of their local services will not be supported by their business rates revenue"

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"

HM Treasury’s John Kingman, Northern Ireland Office’s Malcolm McKibbin and Department for Communities and Local Government’s Louise Casey also receive top accolades

Whitehall commentators and insiders at odds over expertise and timescales for “conscious uncoupling” with Europe

Report by former Court of Appeal judge Sir Stephen Sedley warns that departments are not keeping track of policy research – and says public debate risks being undermined by suppression of findings

The former Energy and Climate Change chief scientist, who died earlier this year, taught his department how to do policymaking without the hot air – by making the process data-led, iterative and open

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