Civil Service Reform

Since Clare Moriarty became permanent secretary of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs last August, she has found herself drawing on three decades of Whitehall experience to tackle challenges like flooding and organisational reform. Jess Bowie meets her

A lack of challenging advice, no control over important appointments and poor management information are among the frustrations voiced by David Laws, Greg Barker, Ken Clarke, Stephen Hammond and Baroness Kramer speaking in the latest interviews under the Institute for Government's 'Ministers Reflect' series

Cabinet Office's Warren Smith wants service to become the first port of call for procurement

Microsoft considers the safest way to push the boundaries of innovation

International Development Committee gives broad backing to UK's new aid strategy – but warns DfID not to lose sight of poverty focus as other departments take on responsibility for spending development assistance funds

Passing powers from Whitehall to local areas is a key government goal. But do civil servants have enough understanding of what is happening on the ground to make the policy work? Colin Marrs talks to experts and officials to find out

New data science projects given the go-ahead in this week’s Budget will give the nation richer and more precise economic figures, the Office for National Statistics has said

PAC report casts doubt on ability of beefed-up major projects watchdog to scrutinise government’s biggest schemes, and calls on Cabinet Office to explain how it will meet skills shortages needed for "transformation"

Proposals to make local government financially self-sufficient by 2020 must not be impacted by George Osborne's business-boosting measures, a lobby group has warned

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

FDA union chief Dave Penman says pensions move will make make budget cuts "significantly worse” than the chancellor's headline announcements

Plans to end local authority reliance on Whitehall gather pace

Budget document emphasises plan to "move civil servants out of expensive Whitehall accommodation", with Ministry of Justice looking to set up "centres of expertise outside the capital"

Suzannah Brecknell crunches the latest Office for National Statistics figures on public sector employment

Live coverage and reaction as chancellor sets out the 2016 Budget, provided by our colleagues on PoliticsHome.com. CSW will be have the key Whitehall stories and reaction throughout the afternoon

"The obvious efficiency savings have come through in the early period," says former head of the civil service – as chancellor prepares to outline £4bn of further spending cuts

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

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

Lovegrove to leave DECC after three years at the top, taking over from Jon Thompson at the MoD "shortly"

Spending watchdog questions the government’s claims on SME spending, and urges departments to make sure that initiatives to improve commercial capability do not undermine attempts to support small companies

DCMS permanent secretary Sue Owen says department is "just about" at the minimum levels of staffing it needs to do its job –  but says department is in a "much, much more fortunate place" than expected before the Spending Review