Policy

Chatham House urges protection of FCO – while officials reportedly say they are "confident" of a good outcome at the Spending Review

Police and Crime Commissioners write to ministers over new funding formula – but Home Office says changes will improve "complex, opaque and out of date" system

National Audit Office asked by MPs to check whether Spending Review cuts are taking account of the environment

Equalities and Human Rights Commission warns that gaps in public data are leaving marginalised groups – including transgender people, gypsies and travellers, and bullied children – under the radar

Top official at the business department says plan to subsidise apprenticeship wages could set an "unhelpful precedent" – and seeks the fourth ministerial direction of the parliament

Senior Tory backbencher joins former Treasury solicitor Sir Paul Jenkins in questioning removal of reference to international law

DWP perm sec heaps praise on the department's operations team for finding efficiencies, while acknowledging staff can't "just pedal faster forever"

Analysis: What does the tax credits defeat in the House of Lords mean for the government's legislative programme – and are civil servants ready for the fallout?

Dods Research finds LSE best-perceived among officials, while some civil servants call for better access to academic studies

New diagnostic tool from the Institute for Government aims to help officials assess viability of public service markets

Institute for Government finds it is "much harder than it should be" to establish evidence base for public policymaking – and launches new tool to help officials

Diplomatic source says “more likely” move to curb benefits will result in restrictions lasting “months rather than years”

More say over Assembly procedures, energy and transport promised in Draft Wales Bill

Cabinet Office minister Matt Hancock releases figures showing GDS exits since May represent 2% of its workforce – while Labour warns of "haemorrhaging" of digital talent

EVEL plans should be "piloted on statutory instruments"; pension freedoms could be putting savers at risk – the latest from the House of Commons select committees

The government's lead non-executive says public services are now at a "critical juncture"

Justice secretary Michael Gove tells MPs that Just Solutions International – the commercial arm of the National Offender Management Service – will abandon deal to advise Saudi Arabia on running of prisons

David Mundell says "top up" payment will herald "new era of devolution"

GDS unveils new Digital Outcomes and Services framework

Lord Adonis to head up new body modelled on the independent Office for Budget Responsibility

Beyond the comfort zone: Andrew Rogoyski, head of cyber security services at global IT supplier CGI, tells Civil Service World about an eye-opening secondment working on cyber security in the Cabinet Office

Former head of the civil service asked by Labour to "review the operation of the Treasury itself" – as shadow chancellor John McDonnell signals major shift in the opposition's economic policy

As the government’s most senior medical adviser, it’s Dame Sally Davies’ job to stand up for hard evidence and grapple with some of the country’s biggest health challenges. Matt Foster meets her

Freedom of Information has been a "very big positive" in spite of "chilling effects", says Cabinet secretary