Finance

Former PAC chair Margaret Hodge questions whether ministerial accountability system is fit for purpose and warns MPs are more interested in new policies than scrutinising spending. But her warnings over civil service capability are challenged by a senior Ministry of Defence offficial

“I love disruptive procurement,” says CCS’s commercial delivery director

"There are always ways to make government better, always ways to make sure that the taxes of people are better spent," says chancellor, against gloomy global economic backdrop

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"

Lord Kerslake says it is “impossible to see why any fair person would want to remove this very basic service” - and vows to "sing the national anthem" if the government shelves plans to end automatic "check off" of fees from civil servants' pay packets

Public Accounts Committee criticises lack of transparency over HM Revenue and Customs' £130m, ten-year tax deal with Google – but says department has taken "a step in the right direction" in pledging reform of penalty regime

Overall block grant will be at least as high as it would have been under the Barnett Formula – while Scottish government gets extra borrowing powers

Treasury committee says 2014 intervention by then-chief secretary Danny Alexander “gives the appearance of a minister trying to lean on the OBR”

Leading health think-tank warns on state of NHS trust finances even after Treasury's Spending Review boost

MP Meg Hillier tells CSW that public confidence in the way HM Revenue and Customs reaches settlement deals with large corporations will be an issue until there is greater transparency

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

HMRC chief executive Dame Lin Homer has told members of the Public Accounts Committee that civil servants should be proud of progress in tackling tax avoidance on the part of large companies

Report by the National Audit Office lays bare the problems facing flagship mutual - but Cabinet Office says it has taken steps to turn the situation around. Unions meanwhile welcomed the spending watchdog's findings

Treasury committee questions why internal auditors did not raise concerns about government funding of the now-collapsed Kids Company youth charity

Institute for Fiscal Studies warns that “very inflexible” fiscal target could "come at a cost", while rising demand for services and public sector employment costs will make implementing cuts harder

The anticipated decision to give Amazon director Douglas Gurr a non-executive role at the Department for Work and Pensions has been attacked because of the firm’s tax record

Reducing reliance on consultants and temps will require "much more fundamental workforce transformation" than seen so far, civil service chief John Manzoni tells MPs. But he says the organisation is "on the road" to addressing the problem

In correspondence seen by CSW, HMRC chief Lin Homer defends "robust and transparent approach" to redundancies – but "outraged​" PCS union says department has failed to consider all options

Report by the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee says that final round of funding to the beleaguered youth charity — subject to a warning from then-Cabinet Office perm sec Richard Heaton — "should not have been authorised"

Chief secretary to the Treasury Greg Hands says his department’s five-strand programme – designed to put finance at the heart of government decision-making – is on course and delivering results

FDA general secretary Dave Penman says HMRC staff should not be blamed for internet giant Google’s controversial tax deal

Overall borrowing this year now at £74.2bn,  past the OBR's projection of £68.9bn

MoJ's top official says falling out with prisons inspector was the result of spending controls introduced "in some haste" to tackle department's overspend

Government should be trialling use of distributed ledger technologies to improve welfare payments, according to a report published today