News

BT to make up to £129m available to local authorities as government extends rollout of superfast broadband

Simon McDonald, UK ambassador to Germany since 2010, to take up post as FCO's most senior official from September

Jess Bowie breaks bread with the outspoken chair of the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee

Justice department to run policy fellowships to expand “pool of people” delivering extensive reform programme

Environment secretary Liz Truss has hailed Defra’s new Open Data Initiative as the biggest ever "data give-away" by government. But what will it mean in practice? Mark Rowe reports

Sean Worth argues that BIS, Defra, DECC and the Department for Transport should be merged into a single new department to create a streamlined national infrastructure function

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs appoints Emma Howard Boyd to agency

When it comes to promoting public service transformation, the Government is not short of challenges – but the November Spending Review could just be the push departments need, says Reform’s Andrew Haldenby

Minister of State for the Digital Economy stresses need for "good cyber security" at Reform think tank's  “Cyber security: assurance, resilience, response” conference 

When Foreign Office letters on a plan to move the entire population of  Hong Kong to Northern Ireland turned up at the National Archives, many media outlets failed to spot the hoax. Former FCO official David Snoxell shares the story behind the correspondence, and warns against humour-free diplomacy

Energy secretary Amber Rudd calls time on household energy efficiency scheme

When it comes to strengthening their health systems, emerging economies are not short of challenges – and "leapfrogging" can help deliver real change rapidly

The countryside and climate change were strangely absent from the election campaign and the Queen’s Speech. Why – and what does this mean for DECC, Defra and the governance of the environment? Mark Rowe reports

Cuts made tactically may be unsustainable – the Treasury must use the 2015 review to reform public services in a lasting way

Philip Hammond tells MPs that while Treasury's 25% and 40% cuts call likely to be "aspirational", FCO must make "strategic" savings

Cabinet secretary says proposed purdah rule change is needed to eliminate legal uncertainty for ministers, and says civil service impartiality will not be undermined

Push for £20bn of departmental cuts begins today - with spending review conclusions to be set out on November 25

Annual report from the Civil Service Commission says senior civil service pay curbs could lead to loss of "some of the most talented" officials

BIS and DfE urged to take "strategic" action over struggling colleges, while separate report confirms that the Skills Funding Agency's accounts have been qualified

PCS members in two-day walkout over "oppressive" Universal Credit working conditions, but department says plans in place for "smooth running" of the service

Former Treasury perm sec Lord Burns to review Freedom of Information laws and consider "safe space" argument, while Cabinet Office takes over responsibility for FOI from the Ministry of Justice

Letters published on Thursday night show that Cabinet Office perm sec sought rare ministerial direction over fresh grant to the charity, but Matt Hancock and Oliver Letwin say they had agreed "clear conditions" for the funding

How Essex County Fire & Rescue Service procured cloud backup via G Cloud

Private sector organisations operate in a commercially competitive world and so the drive for them to adopt cloud technologies is huge. Paul K Jeffrey, technical account director for iomart,  outlines the different cloud options on the market