An advertisement for a chief information officer to
co-ordinate IT across Whitehall is causing concern, according to
the leader of public sector IT directors' organisation
Socitm.
The new CIO will take on part of the role of the outgoing e-envoy
Andrew Pinder, but will focus more closely on central government
service delivery.
The advertisement promises "one of the most influential roles in IT
today" for the successful candidate for the post of "head of
profession for IT in government".
Socitm president Fahri Zihni said, "We welcome this position, in
the expectation that it will help pull together competing and
conflicting priorities across the public sector, but we are
disappointed that nowhere in this advertisement does the phrase
'local government' appear.
"The way the advert is phrased suggests that the 'head of
e-government' will have no direct dialogue with the arm of
government responsible for delivering 80% of government
services."
The advertisement said the new post is "analogous to that of a
chief information officer in a very large and diverse
conglomerate". Zihni said this wording appeared to imply that pubic
sector IT directors need not apply for the job.
The government CIO will run a new unit in the Cabinet Office,
reporting directly to the head of the civil service.