News

Tuition fee and student visa policies are creating dangerous uncertainty, a lecturer argues

Labour MP Anne Begg was press-ganged into becoming an expert on benefits, but has since learnt to love the topic. She enthuses to Joshua Chambers about her role as chair of the work and pensions select committee

Alan Beith, the Lib Dems' longest-serving MP, scrutinises government as chair of the justice and liaison committees. Matt Ross tries to improve his view of Whitehall still further by dangling him out of the office window.

A community support officer from the Midlands is worried about the effect of overtime cuts

An NHS worker wonders why her hospital has a complex IT system but also uses paper records

The Home Office and Transport briefs are notorious as political minefields. But Lin Homer, who survived the Home Office’s annus horribilis, is keen to see what the DfT can throw at her. Matt Ross meets the department’s new head.

From this month, every big scheme run by Whitehall departments will be overseen by the Major Projects Authority. Suzannah Brecknell meets David Pitchford – the man charged with overseeing and improving your projects.

A sixth form modern languages teacher thinks that schools and teachers should be given more powers to shape their curricula.

A key adviser to three chancellors and three prime ministers, Number 10 permanent secretary Jeremy Heywood has spent twenty years at the epicentre of political power. In his first ever interview, he speaks to Matt Ross.

Broadening the focus of environmental monitoring, the PM is ‘mainstreaming’ sustainability into all management and policymaking. Suzannah Brecknell gets an explanation from Defra director-general Mike Anderson.

Relations between the Ministry of Defence and its select committee have not always been easy. But its chairman James Arbuthnot tells Ben Willis that MoD officials shouldn’t view the committee corridor as enemy territory.

Una O’Brien has taken the helm at the Department of Health as the NHS undergoes the most fundamental reforms in its history. She tells Suzannah Brecknell that persistence and partnership working will make those reforms work.

This week we meet a hospital doctor, who discusses changes to the medical career ladder

This week, an architect explains why school design matters – and warns that current policies will damage pupils’ education.

BIS permanent secretary Martin Donnelly would like to protect an insipid image while his department handles some political hot potatoes and sheds staff. But Joshua Chambers finds that his job is anything but bland.

Schools have improved in recent years, says a primary school teacher, but the renewed emphasis on testing won’t work for all pupils – and the cuts present a danger to many children’s education

Permanent secretaries are clear about the task ahead, says Matt Ross: supporting and empowering their staff.

The Intelligence and Security Committee has helped to foster the intelligence agencies' arrival on the public stage. Now, its new chairman Malcolm Rifkind tells Matt Ross, his committee should be handed control of the spotlights.

It’s Jonathan Slater’s job to transform the justice system. He tells Suzannah Brecknell about the unprecedented approach he’s taking to encouraging preventative interventions, payment by results and voluntary sector delivery.

A local authority employee shares his thoughts on finding savings and driving innovation

The Insolvency Service minimises the harm caused by bankruptcy and company failures. But its chief executive Stephen Speed tells Matt Ross that, thanks to the credit crunch, the service now has its own financial problems.

Ben Willis examines how the administration budget cuts build on previous efficiency drives – and names the departments forging ahead with savings.

This week’s interviewee works for a charity providing social care for people leaving psychiatric hospitals

A teacher reflects on how turning a school into one of New Labour’s academies affects the quality of the teaching, the management – and the logos