Leader: Wanted – government CIO

As previously revealed by silicon.com back in September, the UK government is to appoint a 'CIO' to oversee its e-government plans.

The role will replace that of current e-Envoy Andrew Pinder and will focus on building e-government services around the citizen rather than simply getting departments to put things online.

The move reflects an admission by the government that modernising public services is not just about putting them online and that there needs to be a wider strategy to encourage what to date has been extremely poor take-up of e-government services.

Pinder has become an increasingly marginal figure in government IT in recent months and key to the success of this new role will be getting the right person. Pinder claims to be looking for a "heavy hitter" and will no doubt be looking for someone with a strong reputation and track record in the private sector – as has been seen with NHS director general of IT, Richard Granger, and head of the Office of Government Commerce, Peter Gershon.

And that person won't come cheap, but that is a cost the government must be willing to bear if the role is to be anything with real responsibilities.

Either way, whoever gets it is going to have to hit the ground running with the 2005 deadline for putting government services online just over a year away – so who will be brave enough to step up to the challenge?