The government’s deputy chief technology officer has become the latest senior official to leave the Government Digital Service
Another senior figure is leaving the Government Digital Service (GDS), with deputy chief technology officer Magnus Falk (pictured) to be next to go following the departure of executive director Mike Bracken and a number of other officials.
The Cabinet Office has confirmed Falk’s departure with a statement emphasising he was on a fixed term assignment, but the line of people leaving since Bracken announced in early August that he would go has stirred up intense speculation about the future of the GDS.
It will be compounded by the fact that less than two months ago it was announced that Falk was to lead a new Common Technology Services (CTS) team to work on IT infrastructure – a move that involved extending his assignment.
A Cabinet Office spokesperson of Falk: “Magnus joined GDS on a fixed term assignment to work with the government’s Technology Leaders and now he has decided it is the right time to leave. We’re grateful to Magnus for his time at GDS and all his work with the Technology Leaders, ‘government as a platform’ and CTS.”
Interim leader
Deputy director of government technology Andy Beal has taken over as interim leader of the CTS until a new deputy CTO is appointed.
Other officials to leave GDS in recent weeks include deputy director Tom Loosemore and director of strategy Russell Davies. There were murmurs around Whitehall of an impending break-up, although these were dampened last month when Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood expressed his support for the organisation. It is now led by Stephen Foreshew-Cain.
Image from GOV.UK, Open Government Licence v3.0
