News

With the future of the United Kingdom once again in the balance after the vote to quit the European Union, Jess Bowie sits down with Scotland's top official to discuss Brexit, independence – and whether the culture at the top of the civil service is holding women back. Photos by David Anderson

Tom Read, who has been at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy for just seven months, will take over from Arif Harbott 

HMRC chief Jon Thompson (pictured) says reorganising four existing lines of business into a more simplified structure will ensure that HMRC is "fit for the future" – as union says there is "nervousness" among some staff over timing of the changes

Former Public Accounts Committee chair Margaret Hodge calls on new prime minister Theresa May to appoint a third of perm secs from outside the civil service and challenge the “masonic” culture among senior officials

Cabinet Office minister Ben Gummer announces Watmore’s five-year term in office will start on October 1

Public Accounts Committee calls for evidence on reports the multi-million-pound initiative had "no discernible impact” on unemployment, truancy or criminality

New appointments in the civil service, UK politics, and public affairs, via our colleagues on Dods People

A “health check” on more than 70 UK regulators has found fewer than one-third have any policy on staff taking up jobs with the firms they oversee

Department for International Trade director general John Alty promises would-be Trade Policy Group staffers a “tremendously exciting time” in Brexit fray

Former chancellor sets up a new think tank to hold the government's feet to the fire on his pet devolution project

Shake-up comes just a month after the surprise appointment of the DWP's Kevin Cunnington (pictured) as director general of the Government Digital Service

Institute for Government says that while Brexit will bring many new challenges, the public finances will face increasing pressures

Cabinet secretary says call from senior officials to let top civil servants go public with concerns would introduce a "degree of antagonism between the cabinet secretary and the prime minister"

Bernard Jenkin, the Public Administraton and Constitutional Affairs Committee chairman,  offers his verdict on the recently published Civil Service Workforce Plan

Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs committee chairman says opening up civil service recruitment to outsiders is welcome, but a "second-best objective" when organisation should be building its own capability

Cabinet secretary says row over lack of Whitehall planning for a Leave vote is an "odd debate" – and confirms that "thinking" on Brexit took place in the final 28-day push of the campaign

McKibbin says it has been "an honour and a privilege" to lead the separate Northern Ireland Civil Service since 2011

Rapson tells CSW she feels move to the banking watchdog will be a "seamless progression" from her work as UK Visas and Immigration director general

National Audit Office finds 9,000 data breaches recorded by the 17 biggest government departments in last year – and says Cabinet Office must do more to help departments clamp down on loss and theft

High speed rail project faces "volatile" costs and skills shortages, Public Accounts Committee says, as the group of MPs urge government to finalise decisions on route

As cabinet secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood prepares to face MPs' questions on the Iraq Inquiry, the Better Government Initiative – whose members include former departmental chiefs – calls for new way to let senior officials raise their concerns

Department for Exiting the European Union has "quadrupled" in size over the past eight weeks, says Brexit secretary

Civil servants are famed for their analytical skills, but debts, deficits and downturns can still be perplexing concepts. David Tyrrall from the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy offers a handy primer on the basics of national accounting – and busts a few myths on the way

National Audit Office says the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Programme team moved quickly to take in more refugees after outcry – but says councils need more reassurance on funding