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John Manthorpe accuses government of wanting to "sell the Land Registry for a quick price to reduce the deficit"

Second perm sec to announce he is leaving the civil service after vying for top Treasury job

Cyber Security Operations Centre to focus on protecting the Ministry of Defence's own networks from attack

Communities and Local Government Committee says local authorities "must be able to have confidence in the effective operation" of the framework drawn up by central government to guide development decisions

Civil servants reminded that they should "not be asked to provide new arguments for use in election campaign debates" ahead of slew of votes

Civil Service World's regular guide to the very best in Whitehallese

Budget pledges a further £71m investment in HMRC's frontline operations "to improve the service it provides taxpayers".

Former Times health editor on the move to BIS

"We take all allegations of impropriety extremely seriously," says justice minister Andrew Selous

Outgoing director says it has been an "enormous privilege" to lead the think tank

Former chief executive of hygiene services firm PHS Group brought in to lead civil service commercial profession

RPA boss says failings over scheme to pay EU farmers "will live with me for many years" – but says "almost all" outstanding 2015 payments will be made by the end of this month

GOV.UK product lead Neil Williams sets out refreshed "vision" for the single government web domain

Government will set out legislative agenda two weeks after local elections, Chris Grayling announces

Tax authority challenged the legality of two offshore schemes designed by the banks to avoid paying tax on bankers' bonuses

Tom Walker – who heads cross-government cities and local growth team – hails "ever closer integration" and close support of the Treasury as ministers press ahead with devolution drive

All Atos contracts worth more than £10m now under review after public accounts committee said the outsourcing firm had "acted solely with its own short term best interests in mind" on GP data service

Treasury committee chair Andrew Tryie warns of "lack of detailed explanation" of how HMRC's Making Tax Digital plans will play out

New Scottish agency will take on running of some payments from the DWP and will be “directly accountable” to Scottish ministers

Senior Tory says Treasury should take the lead on official stats as Cabinet Office and UK Statistics Authority "have been asleep at the wheel"

"There are always ways to make government better, always ways to make sure that the taxes of people are better spent," says chancellor, against gloomy global economic backdrop

Cabinet secretary will be questioned by the Commons Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee on Tuesday, after ministers in favour of leaving the EU question guidance on use of official resources

Cabinet office minister Matt Hancock says the ONS - which moved out of London in the mid-2000s - will stay in Newport to to act as a "big data hub" in the region

Peter Wilkinson, director of rail passenger services at the DfT, comes under fire after reportedly telling commuters they had "got to break" industrial action over changes to train drivers' terms

Pilling – who served at the Prison Service, Department of Health, and in the top job at the NIO – has been drafted in to check up on the post-Leveson press regulator set up by industry

After better-than-expected Spending Review settlement, Foreign Office perm sec says new review to make FCO "more flexible" will not be ignored

National Audit Office report says Cabinet Office's Fraud, Error and Debt team is "growing into a centre of expertise" – but warns departmental data is "often variable and not sufficient" to keep tabs on the true scale of public sector fraud

"I think we continued to do the ‘to departments’ [approach] for perhaps a little longer than we could or should have," GDS boss says

Former Border Force head Tony Smith sets out scale of the challenge Brexit would pose to management of Britain's borders

IfG's deputy director Julian McCrae says long-awaited new plans are "little more than a laundry list of nice to haves"

Ministers say new, single documents bringing together spending totals and broad reform plans will "enable the public to see how government is delivering"

Civil Service World's regular guide to the very best in Whitehallese

"Technology Products 2" framework will launch later this year – and CCS has begun conversations with departments and suppliers about improving the £1bn-a-year arrangement for buying in hardware and software

As Home Office prepares to take on full responsibility for fire and rescue services from the Department for Communities and Local Government, MPs on the Public Accounts Committee say Whitehall must do more to understand the local implications of budget cuts

Report by committee of MPs says UK government is "in a world-leading position" on open data – but could be "proactively identifying data sharing opportunities to break departmental data silos"