Policy

Report by the National Audit Office says Cabinet Office’s Talent Action Plan on Whitehall diversity needs measures “to track progress and help sustain momentum”

Cabinet secretary says Civil Service Awards provide rare opportunity for “boasting” about achievements

Security review calls for “comprehensive and comprehensible new law” to govern security agencies’ surveillance powers

Independent Commission for Aid Impact says DfID’s aid measurement focuses too much on short term financial results over long term ‘transformative change’

National Audit Office report says department consulted carefully on Care Act, but sounds warning over whether local authorities will be able to cope with demand

Chancellor says "decision point" reached over government's stake in Royal Bank of Scotland

Austin Mitchell reviews a new book examining the impact of decades of reform to central government 

Stereotyped as masters of the dark arts, what role do special advisers really play? As a new crop arrives in Whitehall, Sarah Aston asked some veteran spads to share their war stories

Meg Munn served as a minister for more than three years. Here she reflects on her time working with civil servants, including her attempts to get officials to ditch "baffling" jargon

Number 10 spokesperson denies new units tracking policy progress are a "judgement on the civil service"

Lord Kerslake, former head of the civil service, says it is "highly doubtful" government can secure like-for-like replacement of housing association properties sold off under new scheme

With longstanding public accounts committee chair Margaret Hodge announcing that she won't be seeking another five years at the helm of parliament's powerful cross-party spending watchdog, Civil Service World asked the three Labour MPs hoping to succeed her why they want the job, and whether they think the committee's treatment of officials needs to change