Policy

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

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

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

Interim agreement would allow Britain to restrict in-work benefits to EU migrants for up to four years in the event of "excessive pressure on the proper functioning of its public services"

Downing Street hails move as "further sign of progress" as David Cameron pushes for renegotiation of Britain's place in the EU

Lord Grocott reviews Chris Austin and Richard Faulkner’s Disconnected! Broken Links in Britain’s Rail Policy

Former cabinet secretary says civil servants will be informally working on preparations for British exit from the European Union in spite of official assurances

Simon Case heading back to Number 10 from GCHQ

Former head of the civil service drafts in TUC chief Frances O'Grady and ex-KPMG deputy Alan Buckle to assess whether the Treasury is "fit for purpose"

Institute for Fiscal Studies says talk of "end to austerity" is premature

Chancellor eyes more austerity in first interview since yesterday’s cuts announcements – while the IFS says departmental settlement is "very, very tight"

Fees may create "perverse incentives", justice select committee warns

Latest Whitehall Monitor from the Institute for Government says government must not take quality of open data for granted – and says new chief data officer will need "sufficient political and institutional clout" to make the issue a priority

Information Commissioner's Office tells the Burns review of Freedom of Information that charges – backed by officials in a recent CSW survey – would have a "deterrent effect" and could create more work for departments

LSE Diplomacy Commission warns over lack of joined-up foreign policy strategy – and says Foreign Office must do more to promote "family-friendly" career paths

With science and research spending already below the OECD average, new report by the Science and Technology Committee calls on the Treasury to "safeguard both the quality and the productivity of our science base"

Chatham House urges protection of FCO – while officials reportedly say they are "confident" of a good outcome at the Spending Review

Police and Crime Commissioners write to ministers over new funding formula – but Home Office says changes will improve "complex, opaque and out of date" system

National Audit Office asked by MPs to check whether Spending Review cuts are taking account of the environment

Equalities and Human Rights Commission warns that gaps in public data are leaving marginalised groups – including transgender people, gypsies and travellers, and bullied children – under the radar

Top official at the business department says plan to subsidise apprenticeship wages could set an "unhelpful precedent" – and seeks the fourth ministerial direction of the parliament

Senior Tory backbencher joins former Treasury solicitor Sir Paul Jenkins in questioning removal of reference to international law

DWP perm sec heaps praise on the department's operations team for finding efficiencies, while acknowledging staff can't "just pedal faster forever"