Job share Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Harriet Green and Myra Hunt are one month in as the first substantive CEO at the Centre for Digital Public Services (CDPS).
While a job share at this level is rare for the public sector in Wales, Ms Green and Ms Hunt have been job sharing in senior digital roles for 11 years, previously at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and before that, at the British Council.
Their vision is to take partnership working to the next level, collaborating with organisations to create exemplar digital services, designed around the needs of those who will use them.
Both said they had applied for the CEO role having followed the creation of the CDPS, an arm’s length body of the Welsh Government.
The CDPS was established in 2020 to support the design and delivery of better public services in Wales aligned with mission 1 of the Digital Strategy for Wales.
Commenting, Ms Green and Ms Hunt said:
“We saw the level of commitment at all levels to improving public services in Wales and we could not be more delighted to lead this amazing organisation. The opportunity to join up across the public sector to ensure public services really deliver on Welsh Government priorities is huge.
“We will work in partnership to deliver exemplar projects that show what good looks like. We want to set an exciting digital agenda for Wales, grasp opportunities and tackle endemic issues and, really critically, grow digital skills and opportunities in Wales.
“With access to services increasingly moving online, accelerated by Covid-19, the work of the CDPS, to ensure that digital public services meet the expectations of the people who use them is really important.
“We are already working with several organisations, such as Sport Wales, Neath Port Talbot Council and Natural Resources Wales, on projects to improve access to adult social care, access to community grants and waste management.
“We’re undertaking a review of public service provision and this will shape our ongoing portfolio of partnership projects to improve digital public services for the people who use them.”
The Welsh Government’s Deputy Climate Change Minister, Lee Waters added:
“Harriet and Myra are great appointments for the Centre for Digital Public Services. I know that they are passionate about embracing the digital approach of designing services around user needs in an open and collaborative way.
“The CDPS is a key element of delivering the Digital Strategy for Wales and demonstrates how we are taking digital seriously to benefit the people, communities and businesses of Wales and I am excited to see where Harriet and Myra take it from here.”
You can watch the full PSE365 public sector leadership panel, and more, on demand here.
