How to control the cost of our over promoted civil service January 16, 2025 Civil service pay has been frozen yet the wage bill remains the same as it was 10 years ago. Time to clear out the dead wood and boost the pay of top talent, says Henry Hill It’s all so predictable. The previous government froze civil service pay to try and control costs as headcount ballooned. [...]
Starmer positions the UK as a trailblazer in AI innovation January 13, 2025 Keir Starmer has thrown the weight of Whitehall behind AI in a bid to boost growth and position the UK as a world leader in the sector. On Monday morning, Keir Starmer revealed the UK’s ‘AI Opportunities Action Plan’, a transformative strategy to establish the UK as a global leader in AI. He said: “The [...]
Starmer pledges to deliver ‘higher living standards’ in milestones speech December 5, 2024 Sir Keir Starmer has pledged to deliver “higher living standards” across the UK by the end of this parliament – but did not put a figure on his target. The Prime Minister aimed to flesh out his pre-election promise to kickstart economic growth, as he set out a set of new “milestones” in a major [...]
‘Not the 1970s’: Minister slaps down four-day week calls from civil servants November 14, 2024 Civil servants won’t get a four-day working week as we’re “not living in the 1970s”, the pensions minister has said. Emma Reynolds slapped down the demand from Whitehall bureaucrats on Times Radio, after it emerged staff at one department claimed the policy could save the government millions. Workers at the Department for Environment, Food and [...]
Government must ‘offer hope’ to attract investment, CBI chief to argue September 12, 2024 The government must “have and offer hope” in order to attract global investors to bet on and back Britain, the chief executive of the Confederation for British Industry (CBI) will argue. In a rejection of No10 and the Treasury’s gloomy economic language, Rain Newton-Smith will use the CBI’s annual dinner in Glasgow to call for [...]
Explainer-in-brief: Civil servants banned from wearing ‘politicised’ lanyards May 13, 2024 'Common sense minister' Ester McVey is cracking down on "pointless job creation" and banning lanyards as part of Civil Service reform.
Dedicated civil service equality jobs face axe, ‘common sense’ minister announces May 13, 2024 Civil service jobs solely dedicated to equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) are set to be axed, the minister for ‘common sense’ has announced.
No10 on ‘back foot’ from Brexit when Covid struck and rules broken daily, inquiry told November 1, 2023 No10 was on the “back foot” from Brexit when the pandemic struck the UK and rules were broken on a daily basis inside Downing Street, the official UK Covid-19 inquiry has heard.
Break up Treasury and scrap cabinet secretary job, civil service review to urge October 17, 2023 The Treasury should be broken up and the cabinet secretary role should be scrapped, a review of the civil service is expected to urge.