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Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude has fought many political battles in his long career – and now he’s picking up a familiar set of themes for a reformist tussle with the civil service. Matt Ross catches up with him.

Ministry of Justice permanent secretary Suma Chakrabarti has achieved big savings while focusing on evidence-based policy and payment-by-results – but now a political squal has upset his plans. Matt Ross meets him.

This week’s interviewee says the coach of NHS reform is heading broadly in the right direction, but wishes the driver would take more care

Like his secretary of state Iain Duncan Smith, DWP permanent secretary Robert Devereux has a quiet manner. This cannot, however, conceal the vast scale and ambition of the organisational change and policy delivery projects that he’s pursuing. Matt Ross meets him.

Last month, the government’s green champions won an interdepartmental struggle – and set a challenging carbon budget that departments are obliged to meet. Matt Ross reports on the implications for Whitehall leaders.

This week’s interviewee works for a council, helping people to find their way around the benefits system

Cabinet Office efficiency chief Ian Watmore, who enforces the ‘tight’ bit of the tight-loose agenda, returned to Whitehall last May after a spell at the FA. These are tough times, he tells Matt Ross – but it’s still great to be back.

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

A council officer explains how localism is panning out at the sharp end

The days of departments selecting their own training providers are ending, as all generic learning is channelled through new body Civil Service Learning.

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.

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.

A rather traditional type of Tory and a man who thinks carefully before he speaks, Treasury select committee chair is nonetheless getting noisy in the cause of select committee reform. Matt Ross meets a political evolutionary.

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.

Peter Hennessy has spent 40 years observing government. Now ensconced in the Lords, he tells Matt Ross what he’s learned about the need for confidence, the dangers of special advisers, and the joys of the awkward squad.

The 'curse of the decentralising minister', said Nick Clegg, is 'responsibility without power'. But officials are also losing power - over budgets for which they remain legally accountable. Matt Ross reports on a growing tension.

The Centre for Social Justice’s new report argues for a concentration on achievements rather than appearances. Its director Gavin Poole tells Matt Ross how, starting with the DWP, these ideas are set to transform government.

The Office for Civil Society’s new chief, Gareth Davies, is leading the Big Society agenda – and that means knocking through the walls between government, the voluntary sector and local communities. Matt Ross meets him.

Darra Singh has had a year to get used to running the vast agency Jobcentre Plus. Now for the difficult bit: turning this traditionally insular body into a pioneer of local co-location and collaboration. Matt Ross meets him.

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

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

Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude is overseeing a wide range of organisational, process and management change programmes – at breakneck speed. He takes Matt Ross on a gallop through his reform agenda.

A council officer responsible for assembling project funding explains why even EU schemes are suffering from Whitehall reforms

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.

Leading businessman Martin Read advised Labour on efficiency before joining the board of the Efficiency and Reform Group. He explains to Matt Ross the thinking of the ERG – and what happens next.

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.

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

At Defra, Helen Ghosh ditched Whitehall’s traditional departmental structure in favour of a fluid, project-based system. Now, she tells Matt Ross, we’re facing an even greater revolution in relations between the centre and the front line

This week’s interviewee works for a youth charity, training and managing the volunteers who mentor and support unemployed young people

After 31 years as a public sector chief, Michael Bichard is stepping down as head of the Institute for Government. He tells Matt Ross that, even in a squeeze, the coalition must succeed where Blair failed – and reform public services.

Conference season is upon us, and this year all three really matter. With the Liberal Democrats in government, Nick Clegg’s defence of the coalition was occupying the news media last Monday – until a report on public sector salaries suddenly rose up the bulletins and spread through the news websites. Launched ahead of a BBC Panorama programme on the topic, the report won lavish coverage across the right-leaning press.

This week’s interviewee is a probation officer with nearly 30 years’ experience – both in the field, and as a trainer

10 Downing Street hasn’t been this relaxed in years. But Matt Ross discovers that the prime minister is nonetheless determined to create dramatic change within government – and fast.

The Cabinet Office has always played a key role in coordinating government and developing the civil service. Matt Ross finds that, as the home of the deputy prime minister and the efficiency agenda, it is becoming more powerful still.

As a minister, David Blunkett was keen to reform the civil service. But now, he tells Matt Ross, much of the public sector faces an existential threat: a danger of destruction at the hands of its own government