Education

Peter Lawson and Samantha Ulyatt to take up post in the coming weeks

Civil service-wide staff survey "will directly influence real and observable change", vows cabinet secretary

Application window opens for 2017 recruitment programme targeting more candidates from working-class backgrounds

Shake-up comes just a month after the surprise appointment of the DWP's Kevin Cunnington (pictured) as director general of the Government Digital Service

McKibbin says it has been "an honour and a privilege" to lead the separate Northern Ireland Civil Service since 2011

Ben Gummer says government has a "clear and co-orindated" vision for digital and says he already "commissioned it to do two very large pieces of work that it wasn’t doing before"

Martin Donnelly (pictured) will lead the new Department for International Trade for a transitional period, while former DECC perm sec Alex Chisholm takes on the expanded business department

Caroline Normand set to join Which?, while other moves see the government name Lowell Goddard’s abuse inquiry replacement and Charlie Bean lined up for the Budget Responsibility Committee

MPs call on Department for Communities and Local Government, Department for Work and Pensions and Department for Education to develop new inclusion programmes particularly targeting women

DfE says introduction of the new Schools Funding Formula will now start in 2018-19 to allow for further consultation

Exclusive: Civil service workforce plan launches with promise to increase specialisation, improve training – and review the civil service "reward offer"

While some civil servants are tech savvy, others lack the skills to embrace 21st-century ways of working. How can this be addressed? Mark Smulian reports on a recent CSW round table discussing digital transformation

New Government Commercial Organisation – which will centrally employ hundreds of the civil service's top commercial staff – "works in addition to the departments", says Government Chief Commercial Officer Gareth Rhys Williams

Former Department for Education HEO Edward Chapman sentenced to three years and four months in jail after admitting £1m fraud and obtaining money by deception – as department says it is seeking to "recover the misappropriated funds in full"

Key government plan to create common digital platforms still needs explaining to civil service staff, new study finds

Hilary Spencer lined up as new head of the Government Equalities Office

Government Digital Service chief Stephen Foreshew-Cain tells CSW that officials with digital, data and technology skills could sit outside of the civil service grading system in a bid to attract and retain staff

PCS study of almost 25,000 civil servants, including managers, finds widespread concern about the way performance management is working in practice

BIS perm sec seeks to justify closure of Sheffield site, and says departmental cuts will mean reducing headcount by 30%-40% "over time"

Pinsent Masons lawyer and former Stonewall chair David Isaac to become chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) after promising to step back from decisions around government contracts

Best performing councils could be allowed to run their own academy chains, in a bid to mollify Tory MPs concerned about full academisation

Government sets out response as Senior Salaries Review Body warns some managers earning less than their juniors – but FDA blasts "sticking plaster" approach

Union analysis of Cabinet Office data on more than 280,000 officials highlights "statistically significant" differences in how different groups are treated