News

Garden cities have long been a fertile idea in public policy. First planned over a century ago, they flowered in Hertfordshire in the ‘20s – and now this perennial concept is set to bear fruit once again. Colin Marrs reports

The government should conduct a comprehensive review of its interventions in Afghanistan in 2001, the Commons’ Defence Committee said in a report on Tuesday. This should encompass not just military operations, but all the UK’s work under the NATO and UN missions.

NHS Property Services was set up as a limited company to manage the NHS property portfolio without a formal business case being produced to support that decision, the National Audit Office has found in a report published this month.

Politicians needs to stop unfairly criticising civil servants and start appreciating their work, Dave Penman, general secretary of the FDA trade union, has said today. 

Departments need more flexibility on pay so that civil service organisations don’t feel the need for “bureaucratic reorganisations” designed to escape pay controls and enable them to recruit skilled staff, the Public Accounts Committee has said.

Highways Agency chief Graham Dalton is wrong to argue that his organisation should become a company, argues Mark Dollar

Civil servants in the Department of Health tried to prevent a doctor from raising safety concerns directly with ministers, The Sunday Times reported this weekend.

Audit and governance arrangements for free schools are “not yet effective,” according to a Public Accounts Committee report published last week.

A teacher whose school has become an academy enjoys new freedoms – but not from central reforms

There is no doubt that the innovative use of technology within the UK’s public sector is fast becoming paramount to civil servants’ ability to deliver positive outcomes. 

Project management may be as much art as science, but it’s not magic – yet government often fails to replicate the alchemy behind its biggest PPM successes. Winnie Agbonlahor reports back from a round table on the topic 

A lack of clarity on pre-election rules are causing officials to “do things on the sly for ministers”, according to the Institute for Government (IfG), which has this week published a report into the final year of the coalition government.

Highways Agency chief executive Graham Dalton is leading his organisation out of the civil service for a new life as a government-owned company. He tells Joshua Chambers why he can’t wait to escape Whitehall’s stifling rules

The National Security Strategy (NSS) does not have sufficient contingency plans, creating a “dangerous and unwise” situation that could cause problems for the UK, a parliamentary committee warns today.

The Crown Commercial Service has started purchasing energy tariffs for all government departments, launching a project last week to invite bids for a 15-year deal from renewable energy generators.

Government’s proposed reforms to the judicial review process lack evidence and would limit access to justice, according to a report published today by the Joint Committee on Human Rights.

CSW reviews Bibimbap

The government’s One Government Overseas initiative is designed to save money and improve services by fostering collaboration between civil servants working outside the UK. Winnie Agbonlahor examines its impact

The Foreign Office has moved to calm fears of a big rise in the charges asked of other government bodies who’ve taken office space in its buildings overseas.

Leadership of change and management information are the top cross-government priorities for improving capabilities, the government’s 11 published departmental improvement plans (DIPs) reveal.

Sir Nicholas Macpherson, the Treasury permanent secretary, has told MPs that he decided to publish his advice warning the chancellor against a currency union with an independent Scotland because it was “vital to the national interest”.

There should be a single point of contact for citizens wishing to make complaints about government and a new minister for policy on complaints handling, the Public Administration Select Committee has said.

More than 100 civil servants in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) have got their boots muddy in a series of farm visits aimed at improving their understanding of farming.