Government Digital Service loses second director in under a month
- Summary:
- Janet Hughes, well-respected programme director of identity platform Verify, is off to pastures new. She follows the departure of executive director Stephen Foreshew-Caine earlier this month.
The Government Digital Service’s GOV.UK Verify programme director, Janet Hughes, has announced that she will be stepping down from her position at the end of this week.
Hughes is well respected amongst the GDS team for her work on the identity platform and her announcement follows the departure of executive director Stephen Foreshew-Cain earlier this month.
This may well feel familiar territory to those who can cast their minds back to last year, when then executive director Mike Bracken stepped down, sparking a number of other senior departures.
Hughes has said nothing, however, about her decision to leave being linked to the recent decision to bring in DWP transformation chief Kevin Cunnington to run GDS. In fact, Cunnington wished Hughes well on Twitter today following her announcement:
You're played a huge part in the digital journey across government. Many thanks from all us @JanetHughes https://t.co/j9L858kspd
— Kevin Cunnington (@kevincunnington) August 16, 2016
@kevincunnington Thanks Kevin, and all the best for the next phase! :)
— Janet Hughes (@JanetHughes) August 17, 2016
That being said, it’s another blow to GDS to see such senior talent leave, especially when the organisation faces yet another critical juncture.
The next phase
Hughes has been responsible for leading GOV.UK Verify, which forms part of GDS’s Government-as-a-Platform strategy. Verify is being developed as an identity assurance service that can be used across the whole of government, to make it easier for citizens to interact with public services.
In a blog post today, Hughes said:
It’s also time for the team to change and for me to move on to new challenges, so I’m going to be leaving the Government Digital Service on Friday, 19 August. Jess McEvoy will be taking over as Programme Director on an acting basis - Jess has been part of the team for 3 years, most recently as Head of Policy and Engagement, leading our team of analysts who work with services to help them adopt GOV.UK Verify.
I’m very proud of everything we’ve achieved so far, and grateful to have had the opportunity to be a part of the first few years of GOV.UK Verify’s development. We’ve been fortunate to receive a huge amount of help and support from colleagues across government, in industry and among privacy and consumer groups, and I’m also very grateful for all of the support I’ve received personally in my role as Programme Director. Thank you all, I’ve learned a huge amount and it’s been an incredible privilege.
I’m really looking forward to seeing how GOV.UK Verify develops over the next few years, and delighted to be handing over to a fantastic team for the next phase.
Hughes has said on Twitter that she will be taking a short break from work before finding somewhere new to settle.
My take
We’ve been fairly critical of the decisions being made at GDS in recent months, mostly because we were impressed with Foreshew-Cain’s more collaborative approach to working with other departments. That being said, we have also argued that new Director General Kevin Cunnington needs to be given a fair chance to set his own agenda.
We will continue to keep a close eye on things whilst the dust settles.