By Tony Collins
The Cabinet Office says that government departments have taken on more than 100 IT experts over the past year.
The Government Digital Service (GDS) led the recruitment as part of a plan to raise technology-related skills in the civil service.
One appointment is of former Credit Suisse CIO Magnus Falk as the Government’s new Deputy Chief Technology Officer, reporting to Government CTO Liam Maxwell. Other recent technology recruits include:
- MOJ Chief Technology Officer Ian Sayer, who was Global Chief Information Officer at Electrolux; and
- Government Chief Technical Architect Kevin Humphries, former Chief Technical Architect at Qatarlyst.
Chief Digital Officer appointments include:
- HMRC Chief Digital and Information Officer Mark Dearnley, formerly CIO of Vodafone;
- MOJ CDO Paul Shelter, who previously co-founded two start-ups and was CTO for banking at Oracle;
- ONS’s Laura Dewis, Deputy Director Digital Publishing, who was Head of Online Commissioning at The Open University;
- Jacqueline Steed, former Managing Director and CIO for BT Wholesale, who starts as CDO at the Student Loan Company next week; and
- DWP CDO Kevin Cunnington, who was previously Global Head of Online at Vodafone.
Comment
It’s encouraging that the Cabinet Office, through the GDS, is overseeing the recruitment of IT leaders in government departments. It means the recruits will see their roles as cross-governmental. In the past the civil service culture has required that CIOs show an almost filial respect for their departmental seniors.
It’s a good idea that GDS tries to change age-old behaviours from within by recruiting technology experts with a wide range of experience from the private sector. But how long will they last?
Their challenge will be converting the words “transformation”, “innovation” and “fundamental change” from board papers, press releases, strategy documents, and conference speeches, into actions.
New deputy CTO role in central government – Government Computing
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