Operational Delivery

When good ideas emerge, the public sector should seize on them, give them money – and publicise the civil servants who have dreamed them up. 

Home Office's top official tells CSW his ongoing review of the core department will see its headquarters "delayered" and its "management structures simplified" in a bid to better to support the frontline and learn from other departments

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

Rolling out text alerts, sorting out "crap" government IT, cleaning up data, and trying to recruit skilled people when the money's tight — there's plenty going on in the world of government digital, as Matt Foster found at the Government Digital Service's annual gathering

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

90% of business department's sites to close under BIS 2020 programme, says Sajid Javid, as Martin Donnelly calls decision to shut Sheffield office "one of the most difficult" of his career

Spending watchdog finds DfE has a "weak understanding" of the scale of local shortages and how to resolve them – but department says UK now has the "most highly qualified teaching workforce in history"

Prison performance will be subject to greater transparency, David Cameron set to say, while governors will be handed greater control over the education of inmates

Treasury consultation confirms plans for wide-ranging shake-up of exit terms – with the FDA union branding the proposals an "ideological attack on public servants"

Common Technology Services chief Andy Beale to become deputy CTO – as government prepares to unveil digital strategy for the next four years

Government hails major savings on government estate since 2010 and sets out plans to go further - but the PCS union warns "vital local services" will be undermined

Report by the Alliance for Useful Evidence and the Institute for Government finds officials held back by "structural and cultural barriers" between UK's various governments

Shadow Cabinet Office minister Louise Haigh says BIS showed "lack of empathy" in St Paul’s Place closure announcement

Whitehall tops this year's Times Guide to Higher and Degree Apprenticeships

HMRC's Jim Harra says critics of deal with Google are misunderstanding corporation tax rules – but Labour's John McDonnell renews attack on "very poor deal"

Treasury Committee to review HMRC's approach to tax avoidance and consider whether overhaul of corporation tax is needed amid row over deal with search giant Google

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

Chief executive of the Infrastructure and Projects Watchdog seeks to reassure MPs after merger with Treasury unit – and John Manzoni says new organisation will have more "teeth"

Report by MPs says Eurostar sale was managed well but that government used "over cautious assumptions" and should do more to build in-house corporate finance knowledge

Tax authority's chief executive Dame Lin Homer is grilled on plans to cut HMRC's office network from 170 smaller offices to 13 regional centres

New report by the National Audit Office spending watchdog finds that while departmental spending on consultants and temporary staff has plummeted over last five years, latest figures indicate a “short-term reduction rather than a sustainable strategy”

The MoD is set to bring its civilian HR, finance, information and security vetting corporate services back in house from April

National Audit Office says Department for Work and Pensions has improved oversight of Employment and Support Allowance tests - but warns of "perpetuating cycle of optimistic targets, contractual underperformance and costly recovery"

Watchdog seeks additional information on commercial sector links