Government Tax Profession

Tax evasion is the biggest cause of the UK tax gap, not big-business tax avoidance, and it needs to be tackled, director of Tax Research UK Richard Murphy said yesterday at a conference on taxation.

Marwick seeks elected conveners

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

The government needs to bridge the tax gap and collect what it’s owed from tax-avoiding big businesses, Margaret Hodge MP said today.

Public officials should be free to try new approaches without fear of being “hauled in front of ministers, the Public Accounts Committee or being investigated by the National Audit Office”, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) says in a report published today.

The National Audit Office (NAO) today reported that only 62 out of 129 underperforming maintained schools improved their rating following formal intervention.

The Department for Education (DfE) has failed to consistently tackle underperforming maintained schools and academies despite investing at least £382m annually, said a National Audit Office (NAO) report today. 

The government has announced that the G-Cloud 6 tender will be published next week.

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. 

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).

Chief secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander yesterday confirmed government proposals to regulate redundancy payouts for highly paid administrators in the public sector. 

Public sector leaders should rely less on targets and more on the insight of frontline staff to increase productivity, according to Rt Hon Peter Lilley MP.

CSW takes a look at the ins and outs of the Local Government (Independence) Bill 2014 - 2015

The government has delayed publication of the tender for the next iteration of the G-Cloud framework until next month.

The public sector will have to work smarter and redesign key services to tackle the deficit and start reducing debt by 2018, according to Deloitte’s annual State of the State report.

Lisa Nandy MP today expressed concern that the civil service fast stream programme was not accessible to a diverse talent pool.

The think tank The Centre for London has called for greater fiscal power and power over services to be transferred from Whitehall to City Hall.

Call for power to classify protected characteristics to be devolved to Scotland

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. 

The Home Office’s system of recording and assessing immigration and customs allegations is improving Home Office results but needs further work, said the independent chief inspector of borders and immigration’s report last week. 

Almost two thirds (65%) of civil servants have suffered from ill health as a result of stress at work, one fifth (19%) of which have taken more than 40 days off within a 12 month period as a result of stress-related ill health, new surveys from the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union reveal. 

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 Department of Work and Pensions’ (DWP) decision to close the Independent Living Fund (ILF) for disabled people was challenged by the Equality and Human Rights Commission on 22 October.