Foreign Affairs

Jonathan Powell, the former diplomat, chief of staff to Tony Blair and Northern Irish peacebroker, is currently trying to negotiate a ceasefire in Libya. Matt Ross asks him about the FCO, sofa government, and the ups and downs of liberal interventionalism

Lord Levene hails a ‘sea change’ at the MoD

Chief of defence staff General Sir Nicholas Houghton (pictured left) calls for “smarter” thinking on big data and finance in the Ministry of Defence 

Executive agency responsible for the “land arm” of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has been sold for £140m, it was announced today

The Home Office has been urged to make "significant improvements" to its strategy for handling immigrants who stay beyond their visas’ expiry date

Service integration and management of multi-supplier IT services (SIAM) is just one of a many IT functions that will be brought in-house, the government’s chief technology officer Liam Maxwell tells CSW

Peter Hennessy interviews former MI5 chief Eliza Manningham-Buller about the three decades she spent tackling the Soviet threat, the IRA and Islamist terrorism

Staff shortages in the UK Border Force (UKBF) are putting increasing pressure on staff and causing concern that they’re no longer able to effectively protect the UK borders, a survey revealed on the 4 December. 

Referrals from Scottish police to crime agency have risen rapidly

UK secret service bodies, MI5, MI6 and GCHQ, will start a recruitment drive for more Russian and Mandarin linguists this month.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has announced the three private sector companies who have been offered contracts to deliver its £164bn equipment plan. 

HM Revenue and Customs will gain greater ability to clamp down on tax evaders following the signing of an international agreement on tax evasion at the Global Forum in Berlin today. 

The Defence Select Committee chair has criticised the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) prioritising management skills over local expertise in its overseas staff, and expressed scepticism over the UK’s approach to developing strategy. 

Chief of the Met police Bernard Hogan-Howe has said he “welcomes” Home Secretary Theresa May’s pause on the review of whether counter-terrorism should stay a policing function.

Phil Gormley, deputy director-general of the National Crime Agency (NCA), outlined the key crimes the UK recognise as falling under the tier two threat of ‘serious and organised crime’. 

The threat of serious and organised crime should be given recognition when discussing national security, according to the National Crime Agency (NCA). 

Margaret Hodge today stated that confusion at the centre of government is impacting on the government’s ability to “deliver value for taxpayers’ money”.

A National Audit Office (NAO) report reveals the number of foreign national offenders (FNOs) deported from the UK remains broadly unchanged whilst the number of FNOs in prison has increased by 4% since 2006 despite a tenfold increase in Home Office staff working on FNO cases. 

The chief of the Met Police has today emphasised the importance of the Home Office’s anti-radicalisation ‘Prevent’ strategy, arguing that "we can't arrest our way out of this problem. We do have to do a lot around prevention. Radicalisation is not an event, it's a process.”

Admiral Lord West predicts that more emergency legislation over monitoring communications is likely to be needed if the Communications Data Bill does not go forward.

Developments in public service reform from around the world

Paul Pugh, chief executive of the Passport Office, has been accused of a “complete management failure” by the Home Affairs Select Committee. In a report published today, the committee calls for the office to be abolished and its functions to be returned to the direct control of ministers.