Policy

Civil servants who challenge ministers’ ill thought-through policy ideas are generally blamed for blocking change and become the “butt of hostility”, former Labour minister Charles Clarke has said.

We still need generalists, says the Cabinet Office minister. By Winnie Agbonlahor.

If Scotland votes to go it alone, the civil service will face a massive task – and, as CSW editor Matt Ross argues, it will do so quite unprepared

A whip round June's interesting committee reports and hearings, with Winnie Agbonlahor

Civil servants must give ministers “the most challenging advice”, because ministers “absolutely want to be told” what will and won’t work, Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude has said today.

Lord O’Donnell, former head of the civil service, has dismissed as “silly” suggestions that permanent secretaries should only serve the “priorities of the government of the day”, rather than balancing them against the long-term aims of their department.

The UK’s new national statistician and chief executive of the UK Statistics Authority (UKSA), John Pullinger, has pledged to back statisticians across government if they feel that their figures are being misused by politicians.

Civil servants should win and maintain ministers’ trust to ensure their advice is “taken seriously”, according to Martin Donnelly, permanent secretary at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

Policy officials should consider alternatives to regulation “early in policymaking”, the National Audit Office warned in a report published on 30 June.

The Education Funding Agency (EFA) needs to get “to grips with effective oversight to improve public confidence in the system,” the Public Accounts Committee warned in a report.

The Department for Work and Pensions’ failure to pilot its Personal Independence Payment (PIP) programme has led to delays, backlogs and “unnecessary distress for claimants”, according to a report published today by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

The former UK Border Agency (UKBA) was doomed to fail due to its sheer scale and constant media attention, its former chief executive Rob Whiteman has said.