News

Microsoft examines the benefits of flexible working, and what the public sector can do to adopt it

When good ideas emerge, the public sector should seize on them, give them money – and publicise the civil servants who have dreamed them up. 

English devolution is a journey without a clear destination – producing a long overdue rebalancing of power, but within continuing tight financial constraints

Latest Labour Market Outlook from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) finds public sector employers expecting to award a lower basic pay increase than when last surveyed – but wage growth also weakening in the private sector

Home Office's top official tells CSW his ongoing review of the core department will see its headquarters "delayered" and its "management structures simplified" in a bid to better to support the frontline and learn from other departments

Over the last decade the civil service has managed significant reductions in headcount. Why place all of this in jeopardy?

MP Meg Hillier tells CSW that public confidence in the way HM Revenue and Customs reaches settlement deals with large corporations will be an issue until there is greater transparency

Lastminute.com co-founder whose report helped prompt creation of GDS back in advisory role

Transport department has improved its ability to let rail franchises, MPs say, but still lacks the capability to manage them, and does not have a “coherent strategic vision” for the rail system

Rolling out text alerts, sorting out "crap" government IT, cleaning up data, and trying to recruit skilled people when the money's tight — there's plenty going on in the world of government digital, as Matt Foster found at the Government Digital Service's annual gathering

HMRC chief executive Dame Lin Homer has told members of the Public Accounts Committee that civil servants should be proud of progress in tackling tax avoidance on the part of large companies

Latest Outsourcing Index by firm arvato finds 26% year-on-year rise in government spending on outsourcing

As the civil service vows to improve the diversity of its graduate intake, former senior official Andrew Greenway asks whether Oxford's famed PPE degree is really a golden ticket to the top of the political and administrative elite 

Report by the National Audit Office lays bare the problems facing flagship mutual - but Cabinet Office says it has taken steps to turn the situation around. Unions meanwhile welcomed the spending watchdog's findings

Microsoft takes a look at some of the technology that can help your organisation on its journey to smarter working

90% of business department's sites to close under BIS 2020 programme, says Sajid Javid, as Martin Donnelly calls decision to shut Sheffield office "one of the most difficult" of his career

Spending watchdog finds DfE has a "weak understanding" of the scale of local shortages and how to resolve them – but department says UK now has the "most highly qualified teaching workforce in history"

Former Cabinet Office minister leaving trade post "pretty soon" to take on private sector and not-for-profit roles

As Cabinet Office launches new government-wide set of commercial standards, civil service chief executive John Manzoni talks up recruitment of contract experts – and explains tricky balancing act of supporting departments "in an intelligent, helpful, and yet challenging way"

Contract renewed for two years as investigations into Libor scandals continue

National Audit Office report finds City of London Corporation, PricewaterhouseCoopers, the Confederation of British Industry, and Deloitte topping list of providers of hospitality and gifts to senior officials — and calls for better central scrutiny of transparency returns

Prime minister unveils moves to scrap declaration of criminal convictions in initial application stage - as Whitehall's new chief people officer Rupert McNeil stresses that safety checks will remain in place

Proposals, which come hot on the heels of Treasury plans to curb exit pay across the public sector, have already drawn fire from the PCS, FDA and Prospect civil service unions

Crossrail, the capital’s new east-west rail link, is on track to open on time and on budget. As well as being a boon for commuters, it could also improve the UK’s reputation for delivering major infrastructure projects. Colin Marrs digs around for some lessons