News

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Civil servants have been urged by the Government Digital Service to use more online tools such as Twitter, SurveyMonkey and LinkedIn.

Public sector procurement professionals must prepare to make the most of new EU procurement rules that allow government to penalise poor suppliers, Sally Collier, government’s deputy chief procurement officer, has told CSW.

The government “got its maths wrong” when planning to raise tuition fees, according to Nick Hillman, former special adviser to university minister David Willetts.

When my friend invited me to the Parcel Yard at King’s Cross Station, my hopes for a pleasant venue weren’t high. Having spent a fair bit of time awaiting trains, waiting for arrivals or seeking solace after missing a train, I have seen rather a lot of train stations’ facilities. My experience of station pubs has been one of peculiar smells, questionable characters and grumpy bar staff.

After railways, hotels are the best setting for intrigue, romance and murder – locations where people take only the baggage they need, leaving everything else behind and experimenting in ways they’d never dare in their everyday lives.

The Civil Service Workforce Reform Team is planning to “ramp up the communication” about civil service pensions reform in the next few weeks, its head has told CSW.

As head of civil service workforce reform, Adrian Dottridge oversees controversial reforms to pensions, pay & T&Cs. Winnie Agbonlahor hears him explain why his team members don’t deserve their reputation as ‘panto villains’

Michael Barber, the former head of Tony Blair’s Delivery Unit, has told CSW he is “tempted” by the idea of a commission on civil service reform, as long as it’s able to build cross-party consensus.

A recent blog post by, the head of the civil service, about the government’s new performance management (PM) system has prompted civil servants to post over 500 comments – more than 95% of them negative.

Businesses have voiced broad support in a number of areas for the principle of European Union membership, according to a set of surveys released by the government.

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) could provide call centre, printing and mailing services across government, according to a review of the agency conducted by transport department non-executive director Mary Reilly.

Departments should be allocated funding according to the degree to which they boost the nation’s wellbeing, according to Lord O’Donnell, former cabinet secretary and head of the civil service – who led a recent report into the topic.

The transport department (DfT) is setting up a new Rail Executive unit, with greater pay flexibilities, to tackle capability and recruitment problems, CSW has learned.

The government is ignoring the digital needs of both the most vulnerable people in society and frontline civil servants, according to Chi Onwurah, a Labour shadow Cabinet Office minister.

Changes to improve support for whistleblowers in the health sector may not be effective, according to Care Quality Commission board member Kay Sheldon, because officials in the Department of Health (DH) haven’t “really taken responsibility for what happened” to her after she made whistleblowing disclosures in 2011.

A Public Administration Select Committee (PASC) report calling for the abolition of the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba) will receive a response by Easter, the government has told PASC.

The civil service is suffering from “weak corporate leadership” which is undermining its efforts to achieve cross-departmental savings or plan efficiency work beyond 2015, according to a report published today by the Institute for Government (IfG).

Like our armed forces, the civil service’s battle against waste is split between three commands. Joshua Chambers examines the Institute for Government’s ideas for turning these scattered forces into an effective fighting force

A burrito place that doesn’t have any beans: could anything be more frustrating‽ In fact, the only upside of eating at Adobo in Victoria is that I can utilise the trusty interrobang (‽) in CSW, winning a bet – and, consequently, the ability to eat lunch somewhere nicer next time around.

Sir Paul Jenkins has spent his time as Treasury solicitor creating a shared legal service, and tackling discrimination. As this very unusual barrister retires, he gives Matt Ross his final, divergent verdicts on the progress in both fields

Two departments will pilot new pay rules which give them greater flexibility in spending their pay budget, the Budget announced today.

Sharon White, the Treasury’s DG for public services, has been made its second permanent secretary.