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After 35 years in Whitehall and five years leading the Government Equalities Office, Jonathan Rees is heading for the exit. Matt Ross learns of his worries about civil service capabilities, ministerial policies and endless reorganisations

As councils take control of public health budgets and staff, the government’s chief medical officer Sally Davies tells Matt Ross why the reforms should enable all kinds of public officials to help take the pressure off the NHS

The ‘bureaucrat bashers’ are only making things worse

Pruned hard, the civil service will be lost without new skills.

The Social Mobility Strategy is facing a gale-force headwind

The head of HMRC has got a hell of a journey to make with this vast and complex organisation. Matt Ross meets Lin Homer, whose inbox bulges with thorny questions around Universal Credit, child benefit reforms and staff morale.

The Open Data Institute, set to launch next month, aims to turn digital information into economic growth. Matt Ross meets its chief Gavin Starks, who sees data as the raw material for an important new British primary industry

The UK’s postcode address database should be released for free use by private companies, the chief executive of the new Open Data Institute (ODI) has told CSW.

Officials should publish more freely; the media more carefully

Never mind the NAO; ministers too hate a risk gone wrong

Civil servants giving evidence at the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) have been treated in an “atrocious” and “outrageous” way in order to further “people’s own political ambition and their own political ends,” FDA general secretary Dave Penman has said in an interview with CSW.

While new FDA general secretary Dave Penman is a very different character from his predecessor, he tells Matt Ross, the union remains unchanged – but the government’s ever-tougher line demands a more robust response

Efforts to reform the civil service are finally bearing fruit

The Ministry of Defence’s new permanent secretary, Jon Thompson, tells Matt Ross how he intends to turn this most complex of Whitehall departments into a more professional operation – and dig it out of its financial hole

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has learned lessons about appropriate timescales and evidence-gathering from the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR), MoD permanent secretary Jon Thompson has told CSW, and work has already begun on a 2015 SDSR.

Two years before the budgetary squeeze gripped the civil service, a collapse in the Land Registry’s finances forced it into a painful period of restructuring. Its chief Malcolm Dawson tells Matt Ross about life in a post-cuts world

The four members of the Public Data Group (PDG) are working together to develop new commercial, revenue-generating data services, Land Registry chief executive Malcolm Dawson has told CSW. The move will help Land Registry to generate an income from some of its data, funding the publication of other datasets without charge.

Former crown rep chief Bill Crothers, Whitehall’s new procurement boss, is bringing together the government’s buyers and its commercial leads. Matt Ross asks him how he’ll cut spending and rejuvenate procurement reform

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...and you’ll see the reform plan undergoing a mutation

The next spending review is likely to encourage departments to pool budgets to tackle cross-cutting challenges, the cabinet secretary and Cabinet Office minister have said.

Leading politicians are engaged in a “conspiracy” to prevent reforms to the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (ACOBA), Public Administration Select Committee (PASC) chair Bernard Jenkin has told CSW.

For Foreign Office chief Simon Fraser, his relationships around Whitehall are as crucial as those with Washington. His main mission is to increase trade, he tells Matt Ross, and that means working with a host of other departments

Forged in the struggle between pragmatic reformers and small-state radicals, the Civil Service Reform Plan has now emerged. Matt Ross sets out the key goals, and gathers explanations from the plan’s three main architects

The biggest threat to civil service reform is a reshuffle

Following their January debut, the civil service’s leading duo are taking the stage again – this time to champion the Civil Service Reform Plan. Matt Ross asks about politicisation, centralisation, and unwelcome press attention

Good ideas on policymaking meet risky ones on accountability

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Ministers succeed by working with officials, not against them

The mutuals policy is missing an opportunity to win popularity

Since last year, the PM and DPM have been noisily pushing for the rapid implementation of coalition policies. Matt Ross meets Will Cavendish, whose job it is to chivvy departments into delivering on the government’s promises

If only they’d do the same with elected police commissioners

Legal Services Commission chief Matthew Coats has a reputation for carrying problematic services through political storms. Matt Ross asks him about organisational reform, service quality – and the looming cuts to legal aid