Civil Service World will soon be interviewing Labour minister Jim Knight about the move of public services online, as set out in the Smarter Government paper. What questions would you like to put to him? Leave me a comment on this post, or email me if you want to remain anonymous. NB: You need to be a member of Civil Service Live Network to comment on posts and email me. If you are not a member, you can register here.

Hi all,
Do any of you have any friends, family or acquaintances working at the public sector frontline? Are they interested in airing their experiences in a newspaper that has the eye and ear of the senior civil service?
If you've been reading our 'frontline' page in Civil Service World you'll know it's developed into a important regular feature. But we want more contributors - doctors, teachers, social workers, train drivers, binmen or anyone else who does a... Read full post

The size of the budget deficit and prospect of public service cuts have, naturally, been major topics of conversation at the conference.The government says the deficit must be paid for through a combination of economic growth, sale of the nationalised banks and careful public service cuts, Brighton has heard a few dissenting voices in Brighton.Loudest has been union leader Mark Serwotka. General secretary of the Public and Commercial Services Union, he believes the political establishment have... Read full post

The prime minister announced targets for police response times when he spoke to the party conference yesterday.But is this wise? Haven't targets proved to be an imperfect way of ensuring public service delivery in the past?Gordon Brown told delegates: "It is time for a better service for the citizen. So if it's an emergency you must get action in minutes; where it's a neighbourhood priority, within the hour; and where it's a general but not urgent enquiry, no-one will have to wait more than 48... Read full post

'Baby concentration camps!' exclaimed the man standing next to me as we listened to Gordon Brown announce that, from now on, all 16 and 17 year old parents who are on benefits will be placed in "a network of supervised homes".Indeed. In Labour's attempt to take the Conservative's "broken society" claims on, the prime minister was announcing a radical policy to deal with "the children having children", as he described them."It cannot be right, for a girl of sixteen, to get pregnant, be given the... Read full post

If the opinions of some recent Civil Service World interviewees are anything to go by, then yes. Patricia Greer of the National School of Government told the newspaper that government was better off learning from itself rather than buying in management expertise from outside. She pointed out that consultancies were in it for the money: they would sell the same idea to several departments, when departments could be passing the information on themselves. Last year, I heard a senior Home... Read full post

Design. It's not a word you'd instantly connect with public services. It brings to mind uber-trendy Soho types who have designed a beautiful, expensive table made of see-thru plastic. It doesn't make me think of West Midlands teenagers being provided with a custom-designed shelter to hang out in, and causing less grief to their neighbours as a result.
 
But that is design, it turns out. My newfound knowledge has come from the Design Council, where I met policy adviser Emily Thomas... Read full post

It was the sick bloke wot won it.
Team Liverpool - Mohammad Pandor, Alison Ridley, Keri Jones and Liz Goldsack - have been successful in the innaugural Civil Service Challenge, stealing the title away from hungry counterparts in the Plymouth, London and Nottingham groups.
Sir Gus O'Donnell said the winners, and indeed all 16 competitors, made him feel proud to lead the civil service. And one of his fellow judges, Mr Efficiency Sir Peter Gershon, said the best people in the private sector... Read full post

What does the National School of Government actually do? The question was asked by NSG supremo Rod Clark, who hosted a session on the school this morning at Civil Service Live, of which it is a co-organiser. Clark said the Sunningdale-based school had been looking again at its priorities, and was pleased that both ministers and civil service leaders recently pledged full support to the ongoing existence of the NSG as a government-owned training body. This may have been especially reassuring... Read full post

It's reassuring that the policymakers charged with making sure the world avoids ecological catastrophe are getting advice from scientists like Bob Watson. Watson is Defra's chief scientific advisor, before that did the same job at the World Bank was also chair of the International Panel on Climate Change. But his slightly chaotic, mad-scientist style of presentation here at Civil Service Live belied his formidable academic credentials. In a whirlwind session, he moved from predictions on... Read full post