Beckie Smith

1 week ago | civilserviceworld.com | Beckie Smith |Tevye Markson

HM Prison and Probation Service is taking “immediate action” to set up an independent unit to deal with bullying, harassment, discrimination and violence as part of an effort to end a “toxic culture” in which complaints are often covered up and ignored. The new, central unit – set out in HMPPS’s response to a professional-standards review yesterday –represents a “fundamental shift from how BHDV complaints are currently handled within HMPPS”, the executive agency said.

1 week ago | civilserviceworld.com | Tevye Markson |Beckie Smith

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology is seeking 25 leading technologists and scientists for its latest fellowship programme. Experts will have the opportunity to come in to government for 12-month, part-time secondments as part of the DSIT Fellowship, which launched today. DSIT is seeking “Britain’s best and brightest advise on policy and build tech for public services”.

1 week ago | civilserviceworld.com | Jim Dunton |Beckie Smith

Culture secretary Lisa Nandy has approved the appointment of two new non-executive directors at the Department for Culture Media and Sport – as a report floated the prospect that DCMS could be broken up next month. On Friday, the department confirmed former Southbank Centre artistic director Jude Kelly and Charities Aid Foundation chair Janet Pope had been appointed to three-year terms as NEDs. Pope will also chair the DCMS Audit and Risk Committee.

2 weeks ago | publictechnology.net | Beckie Smith

HM Revenue and Customs must modernise its systems and get ready to embrace new technologies such as artificial intelligence to “restore trust and confidence in its taxpaying consumers”, a parliamentary committee has said. HMRC should set out “realistic plans to simplify the tax system and address taxpayers’ concerns, as its costs rise and trust in it falls”, the Public Accounts Committee said in its latest report today, which compares the tax authority to a “lumbering dinosaur”.

2 weeks ago | civilserviceworld.com | Sam Trendall |Beckie Smith

The Department for Business and Trade has sought advice from competition regulators on a proposed £100m-plus subsidy for the Post Office to support the replacement for the troubled Horizon IT system. The DBT, which is the parent agency of the Post Office, recently asked the Subsidy Advice Unit of the Competition and Markets Authority to compile a report on government’s proposed 2025-26 funding for the public corporation’s Future Technology Portfolio (FTP).