From January 9 2006, Mr Watmore will act as the Head of the Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit, making room for a new head of e-Government and new UK CIO.
The promotion of the former Accenture boss effectively signals the imminent search for his replacement via a recruitment competition to be carried out under civil service rules.
“I look forward to him bringing his expertise and vigour to the Delivery Unit,” O’Donnell said.
“Ian's work on the Transformational Government strategy demonstrated his personal commitment to improving public services and a capability to deliver within the Whitehall environment.”
His departure so soon after launching a strategy to improve public services and government via ICT comes as a surprise, but the IT community is widely supporting the move.
Nick Kalisperas, director of Intellect, the hi-tech trade body, said the move shows the increasing importance that technology has as the heart of the government’s future strategy.
“Ian’s understanding of technology and the technology industry will be invaluable to Government as it continues the ongoing process of service delivery reform,” he said.
“We believe this new appointment will ensure that technology is seen as fundamental to business change, rather than being seen as an activity in isolation.”
In a statement, Intellect added they look forward to working with Mr Watmore in his new role as well as outgoing ones.
According to the Cabinet Office, alongside heading up the Delivery Unit, Mr Watmore will continue to manage the e-Gov Unit, while he will also oversee the appointment of his successor.
“I am honoured to be appointed in this role and wish to build on the outstanding achievements of the team led by my predecessor, Sir Michael Barber, and continue to help implement the business transformation of Government itself,” Watmore said.
Eric Woods, analyst at Ovum, sounded a cautionary note: “If there is a concern over this new appointment, it will be over the potential disruption to the ongoing work of the CIO Office and e-Government Unit.
“The Government's e-government strategy has already suffered from several changes of responsibility at the ministerial level over the last 18 months. Ian Watmore's continued supervisory role should help diminish the impact of his move - but also leads one to ask how the role of the new UK CIO, following in his footsteps and reporting to him, will be scoped?”
However, the analyst concluded the central plan comprising IT professionalisation and a greater focus on shared services could come closer to realisation for government with Watmore at the helm.
“His new appointment will hopefully be an important step in making sure that these developments actually become part of the fabric of public service provision in the UK,” Woods said.
“An important element of this will be the successful forging of closer links between the public-sector IT agenda and the business changes in the civil service been driven by Sir Gus O'Donnell.
“It may be too early to judge the ultimate success of most of his initiatives at the e-Government Unit, but he has already provided a fresh impetus to the government's IT agenda, and with the transformational strategy document published last month has set out an ambitious roadmap for public sector IT over the next five years and beyond.”
Welcoming the appointment, the Cabinet Office said the Delivery Unit’s newest recruit would be ideally placed to deliver the capability reviews of departments announced in October.
Quelle: Contractor UK, 22.12.2005
