Government Tax Profession

The Lords’ European Union Committee has called for the creation of a cross-government communications strategy regarding the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) – a proposed free trade agreement between the EU and the US.

Departments need more flexibility on pay so that civil service organisations don’t feel the need for “bureaucratic reorganisations” designed to escape pay controls and enable them to recruit skilled staff, the Public Accounts Committee has said.

A lack of clarity on pre-election rules are causing officials to “do things on the sly for ministers”, according to the Institute for Government (IfG), which has this week published a report into the final year of the coalition government.

Three quarters of British people view strong data security as the most important feature of government’s online services, according to a survey carried out by YouGov for Deloitte, and nearly one fifth of people avoid using digital services because they don’t want to share data online.

An intergovernmental committee is required to formalise the relationship between the Welsh and UK governments so that it “doesn’t depend on individual good relationships between people”, Noel Lloyd, a member of the Commission on Devolution in Wales, has told the Welsh Affairs Select Committee.

Government’s proposed reforms to the judicial review process lack evidence and would limit access to justice, according to a report published today by the Joint Committee on Human Rights.

The civil service must fight for Britain’s economic interests in Europe, even in the absence of a coherent government EU policy, the former chief executive of UK Trade & Investment has said.

Leadership of change and management information are the top cross-government priorities for improving capabilities, the government’s 11 published departmental improvement plans (DIPs) reveal.

Sir Nicholas Macpherson, the Treasury permanent secretary, has told MPs that he decided to publish his advice warning the chancellor against a currency union with an independent Scotland because it was “vital to the national interest”.

The Government Digital Service (GDS) and the business department (BIS) will establish a cross-government digital capability and skills programme to help citizens use digital services.

The Ministry of Defence’s Defence, Equipment and Support (DE&S) division was this month turned into an arm’s-length body and given an exemption from Treasury salary controls and civil service-wide promotion criteria.

A Labour government would set targets for the proportion of people from BME and working class backgrounds joining the Fast Stream, as part of a drive to improve diversity across the civil service.

Dr Vanessa Lawrence (pictured) has stepped down as director-general of Ordnance Survey after 14 years in the role.

Cabinet secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood (pictured) and Treasury permanent secretary Sir Nicholas Macpherson are to investigate whether the prime minister broke government rules by writing an official letter to nearly two million businesses on the eve of European elections.

Inadequate defences and complacency led to the 2012 attack on Camp Bastion, the Commons’ Defence Committee said yesterday.

The Civil Service Commission won’t reform the appointment process for permanent secretaries without the backing of the Public Administration Select Committee (PASC), first civil service commissioner Sir David Normington has told CSW.

Permanent secretaries’ tenure is too short and the high turnover is sometimes to blame when “things go wrong”, according to former cabinet secretary Lord Butler, who also warned that civil servants “aren’t encouraged to speak truth to power”.

Three-quarters of former secretaries of state surveyed by Civil Service World support the calls for a commission to consider how the civil service should develop and reform.

Baroness Martha Lane Fox is stepping down from her role as the government’s digital champion, after more than three years in the job.

But if the Treasury gives way, civil servants could do the job.

One of the two remaining consortia bidding to run the Ministry of Defence agency Defence Equipment & Support has pulled out of the competition, leaving chief of defence materiel Bernard Gray’s plans for a ‘Government-Owned, Contractor-Operated’ organisation in disarray.

The Home Affairs select committee is today calling on the home secretary to rethink her decision to ban khat – a plant which has a stimulant effect when chewed – and warns that the decision has “not been taken on the basis of evidence or consultation”.

The government should send more civil servants to the European Commission (EC) as part of their regular career paths, chief secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander has said.

The Major Projects Authority (MPA) is extending its range to cover 100 more projects from next year, CSW has learnt.