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The civil service does not run sufficiently rigorous pilots before it implements policy, a leading policy researcher and former British civil servant has claimed.

Civil servants will be left without adequate advice on buying communications services when the Central Office of Information (COI) is abolished in March, a senior civil servant has warned.

First civil service commissioner Sir David Normington has called for the Treasury’s scoping review of tax arrangements across the senior civil service to be extended, to ascertain whether the people involved are full civil servants or interim managers.

The government has just published the submissions to its open data consultation. Mark Rowe learns about the many and varied pressures on the Cabinet Office's transparency team, charged with finding a way forwards

Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chair Margaret Hodge yesterday welcomed the publication of the Whole of Government Accounts (WGA), calling them a “major step forward in improving transparency and accountability.”

Voluntary sector bodies are warning that Cabinet Office plans to dramatically broaden access to public data may end up putting charities and social enterprises at a disadvantage in the competition for service delivery contracts, as private companies plead commercial confidentiality to evade new transparency rules.

Una O’Brien, permanent secretary at the Department of Health, is to be the next chair of the Civil Service Benevolent Fund.

The government moved a step closer to its new single website last week, when gov.uk was launched: a ‘beta’ test version of the replacement for the directgov and businesslink sites, the site contains information on 667 common requests or services such as bank holiday dates or maternity leave entitlement.

Whitehall should better coordinate policy across health, social housing and social care services, while local commissioning bodies should integrate social care with healthcare commissioning, according to a report published today by the Commons health committee.

National Audit Office chief Amyas Morse has raised concerns about the quality of data departments will receive under new systems designed to ensure accountability in devolved service provision.

SMEs working in technology are to be invited to participate in a ‘product surgery’. The aim is to increase commissioners’ knowledge of products and services that could achieve the objectives laid out in the government’s ICT strategy.

The government is on course to make around £5bn in savings in the year ending in March, Francis Maude has said. If the figure is achieved, it will bring the total saved since the election to £8.75bn.

To really transform public services, leaders must be braver, argues Alasdair Ramage.

Leigh Lewis writes on the life of Lesley Strathie, who died earlier this month

The new leadership arrangements at the top of the civil service should be reviewed within six months, the Public Administration Select Committee (PASC) has said.

The civil service trade unions are appealing against a High Court ruling that upholds the legality of the government’s decision to link public sector pensions to the CPI measure of inflation rather than the more generous RPI measure.

Civil servants must get better at learning from their procurement mistakes, a senior Treasury official has told CSW.

The incoming head of the civil service, Sir Bob Kerslake, has warned civil servants that in 2012 ministers will expect to agree and enact reforms across the civil service.

The government’s deputy CIO Bill McCluggage has spoken of the need to identify "robust funding" for the Government App Store, a planned online portal through which public sector organisations will be able to source, share and promote certified ICT solutions.

 

Frauds and mistakes cost the public sector about £20bn a year. Stuart Watson examines the efforts underway to spot criminal activity and government errors, and to end the chronic leakage from ever-shrinking public budgets.

Permanent Secretary and Head of HM Diplomatic Service, Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Head of Government HR Operations and Director General, Civil Service Capability Group, Cabinet Office; and Director General, Human Resources, Department for Work and Pensions

Permanent Secretary, Welsh Government

HM Procurator-General, Treasury Solicitor and Head of the Government Legal Service, Treasury Solicitor's Department

Permanent Secretary, Scottish Government

Permanent Secretary, Home Office

Permanent Secretary, Department for Transport

From January, Lin Homer will become chief executive of HMRC

Prime Minister's National Security Adviser

Permanent Secretary, Department for Work and Pensions

Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Defence

Permanent Secretary, Department for Education

Permanent Secretary, Number 10

On 1 January, Jeremy Heywood will become the cabinet secretary

For years, each department has run its properties in splendid isolation. And the coalition’s ‘property vehicles’ have yet to make an impact, discovers Ben Willis – but closer collaboration could produce big savings for the taxpayer.

Sir Gus O'Donnell will meet with public accounts committee chair Margaret Hodge following an evidence session in which she raised concerns over the accountability of HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).