Education

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

GDS has been a game-changer for the UK. But Joshua Chambers asks whether the big fish will survive without finding fresh feeding grounds

The civil service has always had great people, argues former senior Cabinet Office official Andrew Greenway – but it must get better at valuing trust over hierarchy

Infrastructure and Projects Authority says strong public sector involvement coupled with move away from traditional government structures has been a important factor in the success of capital projects like London 2012 and Crossrail

A new book by Beth Simone Noveck – a former open-government adviser to both US president Barack Obama and prime minister David Cameron – contains useful lessons for the civil service on finding the right expertise

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

CCS chief Collier says independence of exams watchdog Ofqual "one of the attractions" of taking on chief regulator role – and says procurement background no barrier to doing the job

Outgoing Commissioner for Public Appointments Sir David Normington says impact of planned shake-up of the watchdog outlined by Cabinet Office-commissioned review "would be largely to remove the checks and balances recommended by Lord Nolan 20 years ago"

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

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

Department for Work and Pensions' Mayank Prakash tells Public Sector ICT Summit: “Before I can talk to a person they tell me what grade they are – and I struggle with it"

The Big Lottery Fund has channelled billions of pounds in proceeds from the National Lottery to good causes. Colin Marrs quizzes chief executive Dawn Austwick on the interplay between her organisation’s priorities and the government’s

Pacac says government spends “considerable amounts of money” producing accounts even thought it "not clear that they are of any use to select committees, or to the public"

"One of our most important collective responsibilities is to improve the diversity of our senior leadership," says cabinet secretary, as new senior network launched

“All we’re asking is for the Met Office to be able to allocate what it needs to fund staff by industry standards,” Prospect’s Gordon Hutchinson tells CSW, as hundreds of Met Office staff set up picket lines

The legal team at the government-owned British Business Bank has brought together public and private sector expertise to create a new organisation with a challenging mandate – to boost lending to thousands of small and medium-sized businesses. Shanika Amarasekara, general counsel for the bank, shares her team's experience 

MPs say closure of BIS Sheffield will result in "loss of vital expertise, shrink the civil service talent pool and reduce the variety of experiences that contribute to policy-making"

Director for G-Cloud and the digital commercial programme at the Government Digital Service moving to become deputy director of the BIS digital service

When good ideas emerge, the public sector should seize on them, give them money – and publicise the civil servants who have dreamed them up. 

Latest Labour Market Outlook from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) finds public sector employers expecting to award a lower basic pay increase than when last surveyed – but wage growth also weakening in the private sector

Transport department has improved its ability to let rail franchises, MPs say, but still lacks the capability to manage them, and does not have a “coherent strategic vision” for the rail system