In a way, it’s difficult not to like the Government Digital Service (GDS) new director general Kevin Cunnington.
At a briefing for a few journalists organised by the Cabinet Office at what will soon be GDS’s old home, Aviation House, Cunnington came across as thoughtful, with a self-deprecating manner. Perhaps he is more softly spoken than his predecessors leading GDS but he clearly knows where he wants to take the organisation. And perhaps more importantly, what the relationship with departments will look like.
Cunnington said, “We’ll play nicely. I know that sounds a bit trite. But there’s no need for departments or GDS to take adversarial positions. Most of us have the same view of where we need to get to and the same kind of plan to get there. Part of it is we need to spend a bit more time talking to each other and GDS having a national footprint will really help because we’ll be in the conversations from the get go.” (GDS intends to give itself a bigger national stage by setting up academies around the country, including creating relationships with the Scottish and Welsh governments).
This news is from our content partner Government Computing; please go here for the full version.
