The function – which comes with the put up of Cabinet Office everlasting secretary and a quick to drive authorities reform – will probably be stuffed by the present head of Whitehall’s finance perform
Cat Little has been chosen as the subsequent civil service chief working officer and Cabinet Office everlasting secretary – a task which comes with a remit to supervise transformation throughout authorities.
Little, who’s at the moment second perm sec on the Treasury and head of the federal government finance perform, will take up the function on 2 April, changing Sir Alex Chisholm, who’s leaving the civil service.
Following an early profession at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Little held finance director roles on the Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Defence, earlier than transferring to the Treasury, initially as director common for public spending and head of the federal government finance perform. In October 2022, she was promoted to second perm sec for public spending and worldwide finance, retaining the top of perform function.
Little mentioned it has been “an honour” to steer the finance perform, whereas overseeing public spending and worldwide finance by way of “complex and challenging times”. She mentioned she is wanting ahead to persevering with to work with the Treasury in her new function, in addition to “getting to know Cabinet Office teams, supporting cross-cutting systems delivery, continued functional excellence and leading the next phase of civil service reform”.
She described her new appointment, which was made by cupboard secretary Simon Case with approval from the prime minister, as a “great honour” .
In a recent interview – printed by PublicTechnology as a part of our Digital Leaders’ Download collection – Little mentioned the potential of synthetic intelligence, of which Chisholm has additionally been an advocate, claiming that it might save authorities £5bn a yr and take workload from tens of hundreds of jobs.
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“I’m particularly interested at the moment in how we analyse large amounts of complex data for consistent decision making, including generative AI, complex data analysis models and large language models,” Little mentioned. “These help us to give the right tools to decision makers, case workers and operational delivery teams on the ground.”
In the interview, performed by the Central Digital and Data Office, the brand new Cabinet Office chief additionally talked about seeing herself as a digital chief.
“We are all digital leaders in government and we have a number of responsibilities, most importantly around culture and behaviours,” she mentioned. “Digital is a fundamental part of the way we do business in our day-to-day jobs. It’s our responsibility to look after policy, money, operational delivery, and digital is part of that. We don’t all need to be experts in digital but we do need to understand the expertise involved and know enough to role model putting digital at the heart of how we do our jobs.”
Cabinet secretary Case mentioned he’s “delighted” to nominate Little to the COO function, including that her expertise “makes her uniquely positioned to lead the Cabinet Office through the next stage of its development”.
Case mentioned he’s assured that Little will guarantee “excellence” within the supply of cross-government capabilities and within the historic Cabinet Office function supporting the prime minister, deputy prime minister and cupboard.
Little can even proceed Chisholm’s work main lead reform of the civil service, Case confirmed.
“I wish Cat every success in her new role and look forward to working with her,” he added.
The head of the civil service additionally thanked Chisholm for his “dedication and service over the last four years, and for his many years of public service before joining the Cabinet Office”.
Case added that he’s “personally very grateful to Alex for his leadership of the department and his commitment to driving reform across government”.
Little mentioned it’s “humbling to follow” in Chisholm’s footsteps, thanking him for “his leadership and support as a colleague over many years”.
Oliver Dowden, deputy prime minister and Cabinet Office secretary, mentioned Little will carry “extensive experience” from the personal and public sectors to the function and assist to “forge a leaner, more modern civil service, that will deliver this government’s plan for the future of the United Kingdom”.
The Cabinet Office provided a wage of between £170,000 and £185,000 in its job advert for the function. Little was appointed following an open competitors.
