In this cross-Government capacity, Harley will chair the public sector-wide CIO Council and participate in all new CIO appointments in central Government. He’ll report to the minister for the Cabinet Office, Francis Maude, and the Government’s chief operating officer Ian Watmore.
Bill McCluggage will continue as the deputy chief information officer. Based in the Cabinet Office, McCluggage reports directly to Harley (who maintains his CIO and director general responsibilities at the Department for Work and Pensions).
Harley will be able to call upon a dedicated team in the Cabinet Office to implement the Government’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT) agenda for data centre, network, software and asset consolidation and the shift towards cloud computing.
This will realise financial savings, increase flexibility and reduce development timescales and risk.
He’ll work closely with Chris Chant, the Government’s digital director, and also be able to call upon the commercial, procurement and programme management capabilities in the Cabinet Office to improve the delivery and cost-effectiveness of Government ICT projects.
Director of ICT Futures
In addition, the Cabinet Office will recruit a director of ICT Futures, also reporting to the CIO. This role will be responsible for:
Ian Watmore remains as the senior information risk officer for Government.
Successful CIO in the private sector
Speaking about the changes, Francis Maude, said: “Joe is one of the most successful CIOs from the private sector, and for the past six years has been superb in his DWP role.”
Maude went on to state: “I’m delighted to be able to call upon him to serve the coalition in this way, and look forward to working with him to deliver significant efficiencies and public service reform, as well as radically changing the way Government uses information, communication and digital technologies.”
The Secretary of State for DWP, Iain Duncan-Smith, asserted: “I’m pleased that, with Joe as its CIO, the whole of Government will benefit from his exceptional strengths and experience. I welcome the fact that Joe will be able to draw upon the considerable ICT expertise that exists in Government as he leads the programme which will deliver Universal Credit IT.
Of his new role, Harley said: “I’m delighted and privileged to be taking on the Government’s CIO role. I believe we have a great opportunity to make a difference by transforming our ICT services and radically change the way we do business across Government and deliver public sector reform.”
