Government Digital Service in need of a refresh, says DVLA CTO Iain Patterson

Patterson was sad to see Mike Bracken leave GDS but believes that there is now an opportunity for new people, new roles and new approaches

The Government Digital Service (GDS) is in need of a refresh, according to the outgoing Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) CTO Iain Patterson.

Patterson, who will be returning to the Cabinet Office in a new role, said that he was sad to see the head of GDS, Mike Bracken, leave the public sector, but suggested that the organisation should undergo a refresh.

"[Bracken] was a bit of a rock star; I worked directly for him. He's a great orator, a great strategist and he's made one hell of a lot of difference. He has set that catalyst going - I think it's always difficult to follow that act," Patterson told Computing at Oracle OpenWorld in San Francisco.

Stephen Foreshaw-Cain was named as Bracken's replacement, and has that difficult task of continuing the good work that Bracken had started, while also making changes.

"GDS was all about creating the right drivers of change, educating people about that, showing that there's a different approach and I think it's achieved that," said Patterson.

"I think, like anything else, it has asked the whole of government to change - and it's now changing. It's interesting the thing that manages to create change, needs to change itself," he said.

According to Patterson, GDS has to take a slightly different path.

"There's only so long you can keep bashing the same [strategy] and Mike knew that; the strategy was set, he set those [goals] with Stephen [Foreshaw-Cain] before he was going," he said.

"I don't think [Bracken] going was a tidy thing and I was sad to see him go, but the reality is he was always going to go at some point," he added.

GDS has faced an exodus of talent since Bracken's departure - showing what an influence Bracken had on senior members of staff at GDS.

But Patterson believes that there is now an opportunity for new people, new roles and new approaches.

He said that although GDS has changed a lot since it was founded, there was still a lot of work to be done.

"I would say that being in the trenches at GDS in the front-end, that the inhibitor to me being able to do the things I wanted was the culture of the government," he explained.

Procurement is another issue in government, one highlighted by former HMRC CIO Phil Pavitt to Computing earlier this year. Pavitt said that procurement teams were the biggest enemy for SMEs to break into government - and suggested that his team faced a battle with the procurement teams on which suppliers to pick. This is something that Patterson believes has to change at GDS in the coming years.

"The risk, commercial and policy aspects are preventative so commercial people are buying technology, when it should be technology people buying it; I think I know tech better than the commercial people - what they need to do is keep me honest about a process for which I'm doing it - not go and do it for me and tell me it's SAP or Oracle I need.

"I need to do my research, I need to be educated, and I'll buy the right products for the right job - and that's what GDS hadn't changed, and that's the thing it now needs to change. It's [about bringing forward] a more holistic, joined-up Cabinet Office," he said.

Soon after Bracken's resignation, Computing suggested that the government could still succeed despite losing his influence. If GDS can indeed make some of the changes that Patterson talks about, it could be a good start for the government.