GDS stalwart Tony Singleton to leave the public sector

Singleton was a driving force behind GDS, G-Cloud and the Digital Marketplace

One of the driving forces behind the Government Digital Service (GDS), G-Cloud and the Digital Marketplace, Tony Singleton, is to leave the public sector after more than 35 years.

In a blog post, posted yesterday, Singleton said "goodbye to the civil service", but said that while he had no firm plans, it was the right time for him to look for a new challenge that would enable him to continue helping the public sector "turn ideas into reality".

Singleton is currently working at the Department for Education, where he is leading the Institute for Apprenticeships set-up programme.

He had previously been chief operating officer of the business, energy and industrial strategy (BEIS) group between April 2016 and December 2016. However, he is most well-known and regarded for his work at the Cabinet Office, which he joined in September 1998.

It was there that he set out the vision and strategy of Directgov, along with the CEO. Then, after more than eight years at Directgov, he managed the set-up of GDS as a ‘Whitehall start-up'. This meant transitioning Directgov as well as several disparate organisations to become an established business with over 500 people and an annual budget of £68m.

But his work was not done there, in March 2014, he became the director of G-Cloud and Digital Commercial Programme at GDS. He was tasked with transforming the way public sector bought IT and digital services, and he managed the delivery of the Digital Marketplace platform, and the G-Cloud, Digital Services and Crown Hosting Service frameworks.

Singleton said in his blog post that the public sector had come in for a lot of criticism but argued that while some of it is justified, it is not an easy task to transform an organisation the size of central government, particularly with its complex governance structures.

"Looking back over the past 35 years, there has, without a doubt, been incredible change which has gathered, and still is gathering pace. Today, that pace of change is being driven and supported by technology," he said.

"I have witnessed first-hand, and been a part of, what has been a very real revolution in the way government works and the way public services are delivered. And yet the rate of change lacks the pace and dynamics that are needed today. There is so much more that needs be to be done. And I hope to continue to be part of that in some way," he added.

Singleton said he considered himself lucky to have worked for the civil service for as long as he has - although he admitted that while it had been exciting most of the time, it had been "dreadfully dull" at others.

"I can think of no other employer from whom I would have been able to gain the experience that I have and achieve everything that I have been able to achieve; from the operational world of finance, procurement and business strategy, to running a major government project that transformed the way the public-sector buys what it needs to deliver world class public services, to leading the programme (GDS) that, as the Guardian put it, delivered the "best start-up in Europe you can't buy shares in."

Many of those who had worked with Singleton over his time at government thanked him for his efforts.

Mike Bracken, the former head of GDS, tweeted: "From the man who, more than anyone, defined the digital transformation for public servants. Thank you Tony!".