News

The Department for Work and Pensions is reviewing how much of a £303m IT system developed to deliver its Universal Credit scheme can be salvaged after serious problems were identified with it.

The government’s lobbying bill should be extended to include senior civil servants and special advisers, according to the Commons’ Political and Constitutional Reform Committee (PCRC).

Civil service structures are preventing open debates about government policy, and stopping senior officials speaking truth to power, two select committee chairs have told Civil Service World.

Challenge must be encouraged, no matter what the project.

Michelle Cracknell, currently group commercial director at chartered financial planners LIFT Financial, has been appointed as chief executive of the Pensions Advisory Service (TPAS) today.

An independent national infrastructure commission should be set up to evaluate the UK’s long-term infrastructure needs, according to a report published today by Sir John Armitt, former chairman of the Olympic Delivery Authority and ex-chief executive of Network Rail.

Sue Owen, currently director general of strategy at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), has been appointed the new permanent secretary of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).

The Department of Health (DH) will provide hospitals with cash to invest in electronic patient records in a £1bn investment scheme announced today by health secretary Jeremy Hunt.

Oliver Morley, currently chief executive of the National Archives, has been appointed as the new chief executive of the Driver Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA).

The government should ditch paper altogether and rely on digital technology - unless face-to-face interaction is absolutely necessary for public service delivery - a report by think-tank Policy Exchange argues today.

New Zealand's civil service believes that their central government needs one single web portal. Their digital team write about how they’ve taken inspiration from gov.uk.

An NHS worker warns that gains in mental health care must be defended by focusing on staff retention.

The civil service needs to “raise its game” and improve its understanding of Parliament and parliamentary process if it’s to give ministers the right level of support, the clerk of the House of Commons, Sir Robert Rogers, has warned.

The UK has long had a strong space industry but, until recently, government support for it was small-scale and fragmented. David Parker, UK Space Agency chief executive, tells Joshua Chambers how things have changed.

The worst thing about this documentary was its almost complete lack of insight into its billed subject matter.

The health and business departments are behind a big push to help Britain’s life sciences sector realise its economic potential. Joshua Chambers examines the treatments given, and the progress of the patient so far.

The Ministry of Defence is to sell off the Old War Office, built on Whitehall in 1902, it was announced today.

Sometimes, a struggle persists from one generation to the next. Picking through newly-released National Archives files dating back 30 years, Winnie Agbonlahor finds that many of Thatcher’s battles still hold resonance today.

Staff in job centres working on the Department for Work and Pensions’ flagship Universal Credit system are writing jobseekers’ personal information down on paper because their IT systems are so “clunky and cumbersome”, Dame Anne Begg (pictured), chair of the Commons’ Work and Pensions Committee, has told CSW.

In 2012-13 10.5% of central government expenditure, £4,577m, went to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), according to Cabinet Office figures released last week – up from 6.5% in 2009-10.

The annual report of the Interception of Communications Commissioner reveals that law enforcement agencies substantially increased the amount of data they gathered in 2012, compared with the previous year. 

The National Audit Office has criticised the Cabinet Office for weaknesses in the way it monitors performance against its policy aims.

Civil servants believe their employers failed to manage talent effectively during their redundancy programmes, a CSW survey has found, with the result that many talented and highly-skilled individuals left the civil service whilst poor performers were allowed to remain.