The Wardman Wire

This is via the Cabinet Office Twitter Feed:

Andrew Stott will be first Director of Digital Engagement.

It is an internal appointment within the Cabinet Office, and Andrew Stott’s is currently the “Director, Service Transformation and Deputy CIO, Cabinet Office“.

I don’t have a full copy of Andrew’s biography as I don’t subscribe to Dods Online. This is a shortened career history:

Andrew took up the position of UK Government Deputy CIO and Head of Service Transformation at the e-Government Unit in September 2004. He was previously Modernisation Director at the Driver, Vehicle and Operator Group in the Department for Transport.

Andrew has worked in a variety of public sector bodies including the Department for Work and Pensions, HM Prison Service, The Post Office and The Cabinet Office.

That “Driver, Vehicle and Operator Group” is a slight concern to me since the DVOG is involved in “setting high level targets” for the DVLA in Swansea, and at least one major programme, to do with Statutory Off Road Notification, was – in terms of targets as well as service – a disaster; in that case more than a million auto-fines (20%+) were cancelled in the first four years, and the error rate was above 25% for the first two years. I’ve no idea just how much public money that wasted. And that was within Andrew’s period as Modernisation Director.

The DVLA has also been in long-term denial about it’s own capacity to make errors, and has forced people to retake driving tests when the cause is a computer or other error. It seems to me that all of that should have been “modernised” away.

I’m very open to being convinced, but I’m waiting to see.

Full will be published at noon on: http://bit.ly/28cCN.

The position will have a Twitter Feed on @DirDigEng.

[Update:  Good coverage:

1. Simon Dixon has the "role description"
2. Nick Booth (podnosh) askes "how can we help". Excellent question.
3. Andrew Lewin reflects.

]