News

At Defra, Helen Ghosh ditched Whitehall’s traditional departmental structure in favour of a fluid, project-based system. Now, she tells Matt Ross, we’re facing an even greater revolution in relations between the centre and the front line

This week’s interviewee is a probation officer with nearly 30 years’ experience – both in the field, and as a trainer

Michael Gove’s flagship reform of the school system is well under way, but questions have been raised over the pace of change and the funding to back up long-standing policy pledges. Suzannah Brecknell reports.

As the spending review rolls on, cross-departmental working seems to be on the agenda at the Treasury. Suzannah Brecknell reports.

This week’s interviewee is a practice manager, responsible for the business and operational management of a major GP partnership

This week’s interviewee works as a learning support assistant in a large city comprehensive school

The new National Security Council will draw a range of departments into crucial decisions on security. Matt Ross reports on the coalition’s attempt to win cross-government consensus in a complex and unpredictable world.

What does the list of the 172 highest-earning public servants tell us about the upper echelons of government? Suzannah Brecknell reports.

This week’s interviewee is a GP with more than 20 years’ experience as a partner in an urban practice

No-one now doubts that Britain faces an era of public spending cuts – but we won’t be the first country to have dealt with them. Matthew O’Toole finds some encouraging examples of how other nations have coped in tough times.

April saw the launch of a scheme which will result in departments paying tariffs for all their carbon emissions. The Environment Agency’s Tony Grayling tells Ruth Keeling about a radical move to improve sustainability

If the election produces a hung Parliament, civil servants will look to Scotland, which has seen both a coalition and a minority government. Ruth Keeling gets some tips from its permanent secretary, Sir John Elvidge

Elected to the Commons in 1966 and a veteran of eight ministerial jobs, Michael Heseltine brought down one prime minister and became the deputy of the next. The businessman politician talks to Matt Ross

Matthew Rycroft, who heads up EU policy at the foreign office, hopes to move the union on from a decade of institutional wrangling to tackle strategic issues. He tells Matthew O’Toole why it’s time to focus on the big picture

The government has been moving in the right direction on welfare and benefits reform, shadow work and pensions secretary Theresa May tells Matt Ross; it just hasn’t been doing so very cleverly, or very quickly

Sir Leigh Lewis, permanent secretary at the Department for Work and Pensions, is not a noisy or aggressive individual. Nonetheless, he tells Matt Ross, he’s at the forefront of a revolution underway in the civil service

The Food and Environment Research Agency was launched with dreams of commercial development – into the teeth of the financial crisis. Chief executive Andrew Belton tells Ruth Keeling that he remains optimistic

A new report from influential think-tank the Institute for Government recommends a stronger, strategy-setting centre of government. Many see the logic, but wonder how it could be achieved. Matthew O’Toole reports.

Philippa Stroud is the director of the Centre for Social Justice, which plays a key role in shaping Conservative policy. Matt Ross learns about a strand of Tory thinking that stresses restoration rather than retribution

This week, a former mental health nurse explains why she left the profession just seven months after qualifying.

This week we meet a police officer who works to identify and recover the proceeds of crime.

Dominic Martin represents the UK at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, better known as the OECD. He tells Matthew O’Toole how Whitehall can get more out of the statistic-gathering organisation

The latest figures show that government bodies are making patchy progress towards their 2010-11 targets for sustainable operations. Ruth Keeling examines both what’s helping them improve, and what’s holding them back.

Having left the Sustainable Development Commission, veteran environment activist Jonathon Porritt can now speak freely on sustainability policy. Matthew O’Toole hears complaints that Whitehall has resisted change