Arise Tony Singleton, OBE

Government digital chief honoured in 2014 list

Singleton receives royal recognition for his commitment to digital services in government.

Government digital supremo Tony Singleton has been awarded an OBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List 2014.

The citation reads "Anthony John Singleton, Chief Operating Officer Government Digital Service, Cabinet Office. For services to the Provision and Improvement of Digital Public Services."

His G-Cloud predecessor Denise McDonagh received the CBE last year.

The news caps a week of new titles for Singleton.

On 12 June, Computing reported that his job title had changed to 'Director G-Cloud and Digital Commercial Programme, Government Digital Service', publicly restoring the 'G-Cloud' element to his role.

Mention of the government's cloud framework had been dropped since it was subsumed into the GDS last autumn.

The change is believed to signal Whitehall's determination to renew promotion of the G-cloud among government IT buyers.

An Open University graduate in History, much of Singleton's career has been spent looking forward, not back. He has worked in e-government and communications strategy at the Cabinet Office since 1998, before which he was an internal management consultant at the Ministry of Defence.

Prior to joining the MoD 20 years ago, Singleton had worked in finance and procurement roles, and also as a private secretary.

Singleton's tenure as COO ended in March this year.