Finance

Former top officials warn against centralisation of power with the finance ministry on eve of chancellor Philip Hammond's first Autumn Statement

Government efficiency targets have only made the financial position of NHS bodies worse, warns the National Audit Office

Public Accounts Committee move follows National Audit Office concerns over £434m “private sector support” and other costs in annual accounts

Public Accounts Committee says Concentrix debacle highlights potential for error as Universal Credit rollout continues

Financial services director moves upwards in the Treasury, and faces in-tray set to be dominated by the UK's decision to quit the European Union

FT reports that the chancellor wants a tighter focus on the spring Budget to avoid policy gimmicks

Justice permanent secretary tells MPs that “bearing down on the gap” between spending review targets and actual spending is the largest challenge for his officials, as he stands by the decision to implement spending controls that caused friction between department and prisons inspectorate

Think-tank raises eyebrow at PM’s capacity to turn her Conservative Party Conference pledges into reality against backdrop of further belt-tightening and Brexit uncertainty

The Institute for Fiscal Studies, the Institute for Government, and the Chartered Institute of Taxation say the UK's tax system suffers from "too little sense of direction, consultation or evaluation"

IfG says civil service is responding quickly to prepare for Brexit — but warns that ministerial conflict and uncertainty over the process could undermine this work

Former chair of the Public Accounts Committee wants to “tear away the shroud of secrecy” around corporate tax settlements, calling for scrutiny along similar lines to the Intelligence and Security Committee

Institute for Government says that while Brexit will bring many new challenges, the public finances will face increasing pressures

Labour Party-commissioned proposals demand more money for tax collection and new tier of governance for HM Revenue & Customs

Treasury minister says government is "very seriously" considering bringing back detailed publication of impact of policies on the low-paid, as Treasury committee member tells CSW that George Osborne's decision to axe analysis was a blow for "public transparency and parliamentary scrutiny"

Treasury committee chair Andrew Tyrie wants a return to publishing Treasury analysis that shows how policies will impact household incomes

Chair of the government’s Social Security Advisory Committee says Budget and Autumn Statement deadlines have "regularly resulted in secondary legislation being presented to us without meaningful analysis of impact or interactions with other parts of the benefit system"

2,500 staff set to relocate to town-centre office block from summer 2017

New report from the Independent Commission for Aid Impact says DfID staff working in fragile and conflict-afflicted states are sometimes confused about how to manage risk

Spending watchdog says bosses failure to declare National Insurance Fund payments kept departmental revenue spending in the black

New report praises cross-government progress since 2010 but questions the value of Single Departmental Plans

Charity calls for good practice standards, as survey highlights concerns about unfair treatment by local authorities and Department for Work and Pensions

Common Agricultural Policy fines continue to hamper Defra accounts, while National Audit Office also points to the Ministry of Defence's non-compliance with international accounting standards

National Audit Office issues another qualification of department’s accounts and says fraud and error levels remain “unacceptably high”

Changes come as DH seeks to cut running costs by 30% by 2020