Sir Chris Wormald introduces the 22nd edition of Civil Service Quarterly. The lead item is a new interview with Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service Sir Mark Sedwill, while other articles focus on subjects ranging from the National Security Council, a decade after its creation, to how UK Research and Innovation is changing the way research is funded.
How do we build a ‘smarter state’, alongside delivering £20 billion worth of consolidation measures? David Allen, Director of Public Spending at HM Treasury and Deputy Head of the Finance Function, and Johannes Wolff, Deputy Director, explain how HM Government Finance is helping the Civil Service rise to the challenge, developing a new way to break down departmental silos, unlock opportunities and put financial management at the heart of decision making.
It’s all too easy to criticise the next generation for not being as hard working or focused. Yet, as Charlotte Roberts from the Youth Policy Team in Cabinet Office highlights in this article, the Government’s National Citizen Service is proof positive that our young people are more passionately committed than ever to making their local communities and wider world a better place.
Research shows that people with mental health conditions are more likely to experience unemployment, poverty and poor physical health throughout their lives. In this article, Thomas Smith, policy advisor in the Department for Work and Pensions, describes the innovative work …
Edward Lockhart-Mummery, Leader of the Smarter Environmental Regulation Review in the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), explains how Defra and its organisations are rewriting their guidance to make it simpler, quicker and clearer for users to comply …
Sir Jeremy Heywood, Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service, reviews Who Governs Britain? by Anthony King. In his new book, Anthony King, Millennium Professor of British Government at the University of Essex, seeks to answer a question that has …
Welcome to the ninth edition of Civil Service Quarterly. In this, the first issue since the General Election, we focus on how teams across Government are taking bold, new approaches to tackling some of the biggest issues we face, as …
Ursula Brennan, retiring Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Justice, shares her experiences after 40 years working in the Civil Service.
If Britain was to match US levels of productivity, our GDP would be boosted by 31% - equivalent to £21,000 a year for every household in the country. Susan Acland-Hood, Director of the Enterprise & Growth Unit, HM Treasury explains why productivity matters and how the government plans to raise productivity and thus boost our economy by ‘Fixing the Foundations’.
From several textbooks worth of legislation to just over 100 pages. Nicolette Sanders, DWP Legal Adviser explains how government lawyers have simplified Universal Credit legislation using agile service development principles.
HMRC has reduced error and fraud in the tax credits system to its lowest level since they were introduced in 2003. Tom Smith, HMRC’s Director, Customers, Strategy and Policy (Benefits and Credits) examines the reasons for the turnaround and lessons learned.
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