By Tony Collins
Government Computing reports that HMRC has appointed a new chief digital and information officer, Jacky Wright, who is currently Microsoft’s corporate vice-president, Core Platform Engineering.
Theresa May ratified Wright’s appointment. Candidates were considered from across the civil service and the public and private sectors, and internationally.
The chief executive of HMRC Jon Thompson said,
“Jacky is a seasoned commercial leader with ‘best in class’ credentials, globally. Balancing strong operating experience with a record of driving innovation… Her influence as a technology leader and as a champion for the role of women and BAME [black, Asian, minority ethnic) in industry, is a major win for this organisation.”
Wright will take up her appointment from 16 October. She said,
“I am passionate about the impact innovation can have in truly transforming services for people and businesses in a positive way and want to continue the great work being done within HMRC and across the Civil Service at this time. I am proud to represent women and BAME in technology and will continue to promote the vital role of diversity within our industry and more broadly.”
One of HMRC’s biggest IT challenges in the coming months and years will be to detach itself from the £10bn “Aspire” outsourcing deal in which Capgemini and Fujitsu are the main suppliers.
Aspire is being broken up. HMRC says the contract is already “dead” but the department will rely on Capgemini as a strategic supplier until June 2020 and most probably beyond. HMRC has spent at least £720m a year on Aspire since 2008, including 2015/16.
Comment:
After spending years trying to distance itself from major IT suppliers, HMRC has appointed a top Microsoft executive as its new head of IT.
That said, Wright is an excellent appointment. She’s widely recognized for her contributions to the technology industry and for championing diversity. She has been in Britain’s Powerlist 100 of Most Influential People, the Top 100 BAME Leaders in Business, and Savoy Magazine’s Top Women list.
The challenge for Wright will be to use her influence and skills in a civil service that, at the top level, may not fully appreciate her. Will she feel sufficiently valued and stay?
Francis Maude – the former IT reformer and Cabinet Office minister – said in a Speaker’s Lecture this week that the civil service values policy experts more than operational and technical leaders.
“Policy nearly always trumps operational and technical skills for the leadership roles,” said Lord Maude.
“It feels like a class divide: there are the white-collar policy mandarins, and the blue-collar technicians who do operations, finance, procurement, IT and digital, project management, HR, and so on.
“All the attempts to create genuine parity of esteem have failed. This has to change in the future. Many government failures could have been prevented if operational and technical teams had the same access to Ministers as do policy officials.”
In working for HMRC, Wright may need to acclimatise to a civil service culture that could, at times, strike her as frustrating, closed and irrational. HMRC’s former IT chiefs include Steve Lamey, Phil Pavitt and Mark Dearnley.
Will an innovations specialist of Wright’s calibre last at HMRC? If she does, it could imply that HMRC is defying the civil service culture and is valuing a top international IT professional.
If she doesn’t last, it could imply that she has been hired as a Formula One driver and then given a Prius to race.
The Prius is an impressive piece of machinery. But it’ll never go particularly fast, however expertly it’s driven.
Microsoft’s Jacky Wright named as HMRC’s new CDIO
Campaign4Change 
A motoring correspondent writes:–
HMRC have a track record of successful digitisation. VAT returns, for example, have been on-line for a decade or more. HMRC successfully rolled out iXBRL and RTI. 8 million people had signed up in the first 12 months of on-line personal tax accounts. Annual transaction volumes are measured in the billions.
All the excitable claims of digital innovation from the pits of a lot of other departments are just talk. With HMRC you get the real thing – torque. And with Jacky Wright at the wheel performance may even improve.
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UKGOV does not need to innovate.
Everything UKGOV needs to do has already been done – comms networks, applications, etc.
What the UKGOV needs to is start sacking lots of low (digital) skilled people in the civil service and getting a few (digital skillled people in to replace them.
In my dealing wit hte UK public sector – NHS, LAs, civil service then only constant trait is clueless.
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Hi Mark,
You know more than me.
The appointment does smack of tokenism – to shut up critics rather than achieve anything tangible.
Instinct, tells me Miss Wright will not last more than two years at the most. Personally, I’d like the spotlight to be on those neglected employees who are already there and battling to achieve what is required.
Zara
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Sounds too good to be true.
Can’t help thinking, Jacky Wright will be undermined every step of the way by a Civil service that values sameness and stability over all other considerations.
Hope she brings in a team to counter such negativity.
Thanks, Tony.
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