UK outsourcing provider Serco has appointed Tom Read, head of central government's digital agency, to the role of group chief digital and technology officer.

Read has served as CEO and director general of the Government Digital Service (GDS) in the Cabinet Office, and was responsible for directing digital strategy across central government and the wider public sector.

He is set to take up the role with the controversial outsourcing provider, and will shoulder responsibilities including Serco's digital and cybersecurity strategy, IT infrastructure, and the adoption and scaling of new technology platforms.

As well as his role at the GDS, he has worked as chief digital officer at the Ministry of Justice, as CTO at the Department of Business and, previously, he fulfilled tech roles at Guardian News and Media as well as Lloyds TSB.

TechMarketView senior research director Marc Hardwick said Serco was increasingly adopting technology, with several AI pilot programs already in operation. "Read's domain knowledge appears to align perfectly with Serco's target area - the intersection of citizen/government services and digital technology. This appointment underscores Serco's commitment to digital transformation and positions the company to leverage cutting-edge technology in its service delivery model."

Read may be familiar with Serco from his time at the Ministry of Justice, where he worked from 2016 until the beginning of 2021. In 2019, Serco won an £800 million, 10-year deal with the department to provide secure transportation of prisoners between prisons and courts, and for the custody of them while at court. It was set to invest in a fleet of vehicles and an IT upgrade program.

Serco attracted controversy after working with the MoJ on another contract. In 2019, the outsourcing giant agreed to pay £22.9 million to the UK's Serious Fraud Office in fines and costs to settle allegations that it had been charging the MoJ for monitoring offenders in the community that were already in jail, had left the country or were, um, dead.

Under the "deferred prosecution agreement," Serco UK subsidiary - Serco Geografix Ltd (SGL) - took responsibility for three offences of fraud and two of false accounting related to its contract with the Ministry of Justice between 2010 and 2013.

During his tenure at the department, Read halted one of the core workstreams of Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service's £280m Common Platform Programme, putting three years of development work on ice in favour of keeping an "end-of-life legacy system" in use.

Read was first appointed to the GDS in 2021 during the pandemic when it was under tremendous pressure as an online point of contact between citizens, businesses and the government.

During the pandemic, Serco won Test and Trace deals worth hundreds of millions of pounds. ®

https://www.theregister.com//2024/07/22/serco_appoints_former_gds_leader/