News

We need to rethink education – and the DfE’s response to constructive critics, says David Bell

Justice secretary Chris Grayling’s ambitious probation outsourcing is being pushed through at breakneck pace. But many criminal justice professionals remain unconvinced that the changes have been properly tested and planned

The prime minister should be able to pick permanent secretaries from a list of good candidates, argues Guy Lodge of the IPPR

Even small constitutional changes can have big implications

Jil Matheson, the national statistician, head of the Government Statistical Service chief executive of the UK Statistics Authority, is to retire this summer, it has recently been announced.

The next wave of government services to go online will include payments to farmers, vehicle licensing services and PAYE tax assessments, the Cabinet Office has announced. By 2015, 26 services are to be relaunched in a digital form by the seven departments that handle the majority of central government transactions, plus the Cabinet Office.

The Public Administration Select Committee wants the creation of an independent commission into the civil service. The PM has so far given a firm ‘no’ – but its chair, Bernard Jenkin, won’t let up. Joshua Chambers meets him

Sue Owen might be enjoying more evenings out as the new permanent secretary at DCMS, but her days are spent demonstrating and improving the value of culture, media and sport to the UK. Suzannah Brecknell meets her

When 1984 arrived, it didn’t neatly fit George Orwell’s vision of a cowed population kept in line by the feared Thought Police. But as Joshua Chambers discovers in that year’s Cabinet Papers, it’s not hard to find parallels.

The government monitored civil servants’ participation in industrial action so that it could illegally hinder their career prospects and block their promotion, according to government papers from 1984 released this month by The National Archives.

Government’s use of payment by results contracts will inhibit its ability to buy services from charities and social enterprises, the Institute for Government has warned.

Improved auditing could lead to a rise in recorded crime statistics, according to Andrew Dilnot, chair of the UK Statistics Authority.

Departments selecting contractors are to be permitted to disqualify firms with histories of poor delivery on public work, following the approval of new European Union procurement rules.

The Ministry of Defence’s recruitment project, which aims to hire more than 10,000 reservists through an online IT programme, is almost two years behind schedule and will not be fully operational until April 2015 at the earliest,the Times has reported.

The Civil Service Commission has today launched a consultation into whether it should give the prime minister a greater say over the appointment of permanent secretaries.

Andrew Manley, chief executive of the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO), has been suspended pending the results of an investigation into his expenses.

Cabinet secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood and Sir John Chilcot have reached an agreement on the publication of classified memos from the lead up to Britain’s 2003 invasion of Iraq, according to newspaper reports.

The government is to hand additional powers to the Crown Commercial Service (CCS) to oversee departments’ contract management plans and “step in” when it sees fit, after it accepted all recommendations made by chief procurement officer Bill Crothers in a review of major government contracts.

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The government is to strengthen the finance profession and hand its leadership to the Treasury's director-general of public spending, after it accepted recommendations by Treasury second permanent secretary Sharon White.

Mark Lowcock

Permanent Secretary of the Department for International Development

Paul Leinster faces growing threats, a declining budget, and objectives that don’t always line up – but the Environment Agency chief seems thoroughly at home. Matt Ross meets a man coping with complexity

Paul Leinster faces growing threats, a declining budget, and objectives that don’t always line up – but the Environment Agency chief seems thoroughly at home. Matt Ross meets a man coping with complexity