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In an increasingly open society, even MI6 has to change the way it operates – and at Civil Service Live, the Secret Intelligence Service’s head Sir John Sawers made a rare public appearance. Joshua Chambers reports

It's a Civil Service Live tradition that after we’ve finished on the last day, the whole team heads across the road to Miran Masala for a celebratory curry.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs wants to establish a commercial joint venture to run its science lab in York, the department’s permanent secretary Bronwyn Hill said at Civil Service Live last week.

Reforms designed to hasten procurements are being undermined by delays in securing spending approval from the centre, a Home Office official has warned.

The fitting of small-scale renewable energy generation equipment on the government estate could help cut costs and reduce CO2 emissions. But Nick Schoon finds that nobody is leading on this potentially important agenda

Following their January debut, the civil service’s leading duo are taking the stage again – this time to champion the Civil Service Reform Plan. Matt Ross asks about politicisation, centralisation, and unwelcome press attention

Parliamentary efforts to hold government more closely to account include reforming how British intelligence agencies are overseen. Joshua Chambers reports on a committee walking the line between light and shade

Squeezed between declining rainfall and a growing population, water supply is a growing environmental challenge. Stuart Watson examines how departments can increase their water-efficiency before supplies dry up

The former chair of the Joint Intelligence Committee, Sir Richard Mottram, has come out against the idea that the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) could hold public hearings with the heads of Britain’s intelligence agencies.

Good ideas on policymaking meet risky ones on accountability

Central departments must communicate better with councils, the National Audit Office (NAO) has said in a report published today.

Senior civil servants’ career progression should be tied to their efforts to reform the civil service, the Institute for Government (IfG) has said in a report published this week.

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Ministers are poorly placed to ensure that their special advisers do not breach codes of conduct, the chair of the Public Administration Select Committee (PASC) suggested yesterday.

Two government departments are preparing to publish “choice frameworks” enshrining people’s rights to make key decisions over the public services they receive, the official leading the ‘open public services’ agenda has told CSW.

The new set of business plans show that government departments completed 90 per cent of the “reform actions” planned for the 12 months to June 2012, according to the Cabinet Office. But changes to the plans’ format mean that in future the government will report less frequently on progress against deadlines, while some targets are to be sidelined in annexes to the business plans.

Since last year, the PM and DPM have been noisily pushing for the rapid implementation of coalition policies. Matt Ross meets Will Cavendish, whose job it is to chivvy departments into delivering on the government’s promises

Over half of all civil servants do not believe that their skills are being fully utilised, according to exclusive research conducted by CSW.

If only they’d do the same with elected police commissioners

Despite the rhetoric, government has failed to engage with the charity sector. Just look at the Work Programme, says Stephen Bubb