Leadership

Don’t fall for the accepted wisdom. The real story of the coalition lies in the hard data

This year’s Civil Service Award winners were announced yesterday, at a ceremony held at Lancaster House and featuring speeches by prime minister David Cameron and deputy prime minister Nick Clegg.

Francis Maude’s tweaks to a core facet of our democracy have the support of key players. But what about everybody else?

Hilary Spencer became the new director of Civil Service Learning (CSL) at the end of October, taking over from Jerry Arnott, who retired from the civil service.

The Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has appointed Professor John Loughhead as its new chief scientific adviser. Loughhead, who took his post on 22 October, was previously executive director at the UK Energy Research Centre – a publicly-funded institute – and will keep this role on a part-time basis until December.

The civil service must foster “a more vibrant, competitive marketplace” of government contractors and rebuild its skills in contract management, the government’s outgoing chief operating officer Stephen Kelly has told CSW.

The leader of the Opposition’s new electoral strategist, Lucy Powell, was also named as shadow Cabinet Office minister in yesterday’s Labour mini-reshuffle.

Katherine Kerswell has criticised the Department for Communities & Local Government (DCLG) for attacking local authorities over parking fees.

CSW asks former ministers to appraise the UK civil service. This month, Charles Clarke gives his views.

Finance professionals across government should “get on the front foot” and make sure they’re involved in the policymaking process, the government’s new director-general of public spending, Julian Kelly, has said.

Alex Younger has today taken up his new role as chief of the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), taking over from Sir John Sawers, who retired after five years in the post. 

The Crown Prosecution Service saw its staff survey scores on learning and development rise 11 percentage points in a year, thanks to chief exec Peter Lewis

Civil service CEO John Manzoni will now have to quit his second job next year following pressure from 70 leading medical professionals and charities over the potential conflict the role could cause.

Björn Conway, EY Government and Public Sector Leader, gives his outside perspective of the civil service

John Manzoni, the new CEO of the civil service, has waived his £100,000 salary from his second job with a major drinks company, after the Cabinet Office said he could continue in the role “in his own time and on an unpaid basis”.

Peter Lauener has today been announced as the new permanent chief executive of the Skills Funding Agency (SFA).

It's easier to sidestep 'wicked problems' than to fix them - but stepping sidewalks brings us no closer to our goals

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. 

Mark Serwotka was re-elected for a fourth term as general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services union on 23 October. 

Atam Verdi, Director at the property regeneration consultancy, gives and outside perspective of the civil service

As the election looms, CSW puts six questions to deputy prime minister and Liberal Democrat party leader Nick Clegg

Top flight chief executives have sung the praises of both the management approach and the professionalism of permanent secretaries in a Whitehall and Industry Group (WIG) released yesterday.

Permanent secretaries have less than a month to deliver work to boost diversity in their departments, the government’s new diversity champion Sir Simon Fraser revealed at this year’s Civil Service Diversity & Equality Awards.

The prime minister will be able to pick permanent secretaries out of a candidate shortlist from December this year, under new rules announced today – with the first competition to be held under the new process that to replace Sir Bob Kerslake in February as permanent secretary of the Department for Communities and Local Government.