Analysis

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. 

On 27 March, Lucy Powell MP asked 21 departments to explain: what proportion of civil servants, of each sex and grade, work part-time.

In the first of a series of articles examining digital services, Tim Gibson explains online voter registration – a new IT system lying at the very heart of our democracy.

Winnie Agbonlahor hears business department perm sec Martin Donnelly explain the value of ‘positive neutrality’ 

Top New Zealand official Iain Rennie is reforming a system often lauded in the UK. Suzannah Brecknell reports

The UK Border Agency (UKBA), which was this year abolished by home secretary Theresa May, was “never going to work”, its former chief Rob Whiteman told the Public Administration Select Committee on 17 June.

An official responsible for an IT contracting error which cost the Ministry of Defence (MoD) £70m is no longer working for the department, its permanent secretary Jon Thompson told the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on 16 June​.

‘Forced ranking’ is alienating those sympathetic to reform

The government’s ambitious service reform plans effectively ignore digital exclusion, argues Labour front-bencher Chi Onwurah

The lack of a diversity strategy speaks volumes

The long-term impact of a changing climate is cruelly revealing the weaknesses in our government structures, argues Will Day

Select committees are set to broaden the debate, argues Professor Patrick Dunleavy of the London School of Economics.

Sharing sterling would threaten both Scotland and the rump UK

We need to rethink education – and the DfE’s response to constructive critics, says David Bell

The prime minister should be able to pick permanent secretaries from a list of good candidates, argues Guy Lodge of the IPPR

Even small constitutional changes can have big implications

Starved of investment, the civil service is losing key skills.

No-one likes to be stereotyped, but using employee engagement surveys to categorise and understand employees makes sense, argues Jonny Gifford of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).

Among the departments, the DfT has seen most churn at the top – but since 2010, half have lost as many director-generals as they employ. As Jon Stone reports, turnover among perm secs and junior ministers is even faster

Looking for half-full glasses, Dave Penman finds more half-empty ones. Is the government, ever-keen to cut and criticise, drunk on power?

With the cuts in decline, the focus is on rebuilding capability

Ministers must promise to share the rewards of recovery

Civil service reform doesn’t address the big questions, says Patrick Diamond: we need a Northcote-Trevelyan Act for the 21st century