Move on from CDO model, says DVLA chief

Written by Rebecca Hill on 30 June 2016 in News
News

Oliver Morley, chief executive officer of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, has urged organisations to move away from having chief digital officers.

Morley says all leaders need to have digital on their minds - Photo credit: DVLA

Speaking at a recent event held in London, Morley said that he was “not a big fan” of the chief digital officer model.

“I believe a chief executive officer should understand an take digital forwards; I don’t think the chief digital officer should be separate,” he said.


Related content

London moves ahead with plans for chief digital officer
Good digital leaders are likely to be young and new to you, says PwC


“You need to make it work out of your core business or you’ll be hybrid forever,” Morley said. “If you’re in it now, you should move on from it.”

Morley, who has been driving the agency's shift to digital since 2013, was speaking as part of a panel discussion about how to harness the power of digital at the Public Sector Show this week.

The speakers discussed the challenges to embracing digital in government, with a major focus being that technology alone should be seen as a means to and end, rather than an outcome.

“Digital by default is a convenient mantra,” said Mark Thompson, lecturer in information systems at Cambridge Judge Business School. “The question we all ask is about intelligent public services and that may or may not require digital by default.”

Louise Downe, head of design for UK government at the Government Digital Service, agreed, saying that the public sector needed to realise digital isn’t necessarily the solution.

“We can work in a way enabled by the internet and data, but that alone won’t improve public services,” she said. “On its own, it’s not a fix.”

Downe added that it was important for there to be more collaboration across both central and local government, as well as thinking longer-term.

“We often shy away from thinking about what we should be doing in the future because we can’t get there, but it’s a vicious circle. If we don’t think about it, we’ll never get there.”

Share this page

Tags

Categories

CONTRIBUTIONS FROM READERS

Please login to post a comment or register for a free account.

Comments

David Chassels

Submitted on 30 June, 2016 - 16:31
The end game is to be able to give assurance that all information is properly collected and used appropriately. Delivering a digital service requires all this, so is this not the job of accountants who reports direct to CEO? I know DVLA have issues such as being unable to trace back a transaction to the original payment and this is where accountants need to get involved with detail. Sure CEO will have knowledge of what is being done. But not involved in detail....Government are in a bit of a mess with "digital" see this commentary..http://www.dmossesq.com/2016/06/communicating-via-walls.html#update1

Related Articles

Interview: CDDO chief Lee Devlin on the ‘move from being disruptive to collaborative’
23 May 2023

In the first of a series of exclusive interviews, the head of government’s ‘Digital HQ’ talks to PublicTechnology about the Central Digital and Data Office’s work to unlock £8bn...

DfT declines review of undigitised DVLA processes for citizens with health conditions
2 June 2023

MPs found that ‘inefficient’ manual processes contributed to a pandemic backlog of driving licence applications from those with notifiable medical needs

Ex-intelligence chief ‘appalled’ at ministers’ use of private messages
1 June 2023

Former GCHQ and Home Office leader David Omand expresses disapproval of use of WhatsApp and other platforms for government business

Consultation reveals widespread opposition to proposed data-sharing laws for government login system
26 May 2023

Overwhelming majority of respondents voice disapproval but government will press on with plans to bring forward legislation

Related Sponsored Articles

Proactive defence: A new take on cyber security
16 May 2023

The traditional reactive approach to cybersecurity, which involves responding to attacks after they have occurred, is no longer sufficient. Murielle Gonzalez reports on a webinar looking at...