Author Profile

There is “unfinished business” in civil service reform, former head of the civil service Sir Bob Kerslake said yesterday – including devolving powers away from Whitehall, and breaking down departmental structures. 

If Scotland votes to go it alone, the civil service will face a massive task – and, as CSW editor Matt Ross argues, it will do so quite unprepared

The Cabinet Office has made clear that its new chief executive will require substantial experience as a top business person, ruling out the vast majority of serving civil servants.

This newspaper was established as Whitehall & Westminster World in 2004; and since I became editor six years ago, we’ve published about two million words on events in the civil service. There has been an awful lot to write about. The first coalition and the biggest recession in decades have presented huge policy challenges; sweeping budget cuts have prompted major organisational and personnel reforms; and changes in communications, working practices and service delivery have crystalised into civil service-wide agendas such as digital by default and open data. 

The international trade treaties currently being negotiated between the USA and EU and around the Pacific area threaten the kind of bail-outs that have rescued Greece, Ireland, Portugal and other EU countries, according to Ngaire Woods, dean of the Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford University.

Bernard Jenkin, chair of the Public Administration Select Committee, has been championing an inquiry into the future of the civil service – but former cabinet secretaries Lord Gus O'Donnell and Andrew Turnbull believe that any inquiry should also encompass politicians’ failures. CSW editor Matt Ross maps out a path to a very big think about our system of government

CSW reviews Olivelli

PPM staff lack a coherent profession; they require one, argues Matt Ross, editor of Civil Service World.

The Ministry of Justice’s track record on outsourcing is a shaky one – but in its probation reforms, it’s running one of Whitehall’s most ambitious greenfield contracting-out schemes. Matt Ross meets project chief Antonia Romeo

‘Forced ranking’ is alienating those sympathetic to reform

The civil service’s record on improving the ethnic diversity of the senior civil service is “disgraceful”, the outgoing permanent secretary diversity champion has said, and he deeply regrets the fact that this month’s deadline to put in place “a clear, strategic approach” to diversity across Whitehall will be missed.

Sir Paul Jenkins has spent his time as Treasury solicitor creating a shared legal service, and tackling discrimination. As this very unusual barrister retires, he gives Matt Ross his final, divergent verdicts on the progress in both fields

The lack of a diversity strategy speaks volumes

The Care Quality Commission’s budget shrank to the point where there was “insufficient resource available for us to do the job” of inspecting care, its chief executive has told CSW – but the Department of Health is now providing extra funds to support a new inspection model.

The Care Quality Commission exists to inspect quality in our health and care services – but when chief executive David Behan joined it in 2012, its own services were in turmoil. He tells Matt Ross what he’s doing to turn it around.

Sharing sterling would threaten both Scotland and the rump UK

The Public Accounts Committee chair sits right at the heart of Westminster, with the power to examine public spending across government. But as Margaret Hodge tells Matt Ross, she’s always felt like an outsider

Even small constitutional changes can have big implications

Starved of investment, the civil service is losing key skills.

With the cuts in decline, the focus is on rebuilding capability

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

But if the Treasury gives way, civil servants could do the job.

One of the two remaining consortia bidding to run the Ministry of Defence agency Defence Equipment & Support has pulled out of the competition, leaving chief of defence materiel Bernard Gray’s plans for a ‘Government-Owned, Contractor-Operated’ organisation in disarray.

Further savings in the Crown Prosecution Service will require politicians to make decisions about the justice system’s priorities, the former director of public prosecutions, Keir Starmer, has told CSW.

Ministers must promise to share the rewards of recovery

Treasury solicitor Sir Paul Jenkins is to retire next March, he’s told CSW, just as his shared services plans come to fruition and his team of lawyers expands from 700 to 1,700.

Treasury solicitor Sir Paul Jenkins is to retire next March, Civil Service World has learned.

We need democratic oversight of ministerial policy advisers.

Housing associations should be “championing” the Homes and Communities Agency’s plans to charge them fees to support the HCA’s regulatory functions, its chief executive Andy Rose has told CSW.

After a tough few years for social housing, the new Homes & Communities Agency chief Andy Rose tells Matt Ross that with smaller grants and fewer bank loans, his aim is to create a safe and attractive space for private investors.

The unions are getting thoroughly angry at government cuts and service reforms. They’re already planning a day of autumn strikes – and at a fringe meeting, Matt Ross hears much talk of direct action and ideological struggles.

In a Special Report published in CSW on 25 September, we examined 12 major projects: three each from the defence, transport, health, and work & pensions departments. We chose projects of a range of types, and covering the ‘traffic light’ risk spectrum from green to red. The text below covers one of the four departments: click here to read our introduction and methodology.

The FoIA’s critics would trade accountability for convenience

One of the architects of the Freedom of Information Act has told Civil Service World that this “very radical policy” is “capable of being expensive and burdensome”, and suggested that the rules governing disclosure require departments to make very complex – and thus expensive – decisions.

As director general of the Attorney General’s Office, Rowena Collins Rice sits at the legal heart of Whitehall. She tells Matt Ross about the Leveson Inquiry, Freedom of Information and overseeing government legal issues