NSW Govt CIO ousted in departmental shake-up

NSW Government CIO Laurie Glanfield has had his position dissolved after the agency he once led was demoted to an office within the Treasury department.

Laurie Glanfield (Source: @ICT_NSW)

The NSW Government, under new Premier Mike Baird, yesterday handed down administrative orders revealing the Department of Finance and Services, formerly led by Glanfield, would be migrated into the state Treasury department.

Glanfield, who prior to the shake-up was the longest serving department chief still working in the state’s public service, will not stay on with the renamed Office of Finance and Services, a spokesman confirmed.

The orders, which followed the swearing in of Baird’s new ministry including new Finance Minister Dominic Perrottet, formalise several major changes to the structure of the NSW public sector.

Glanfield assumed the title of NSW Government CIO when he replaced Michael Coutts-Trotter as Director-General of Finance and Services in July last year. The role saw him become the final point of authority for whole-of-government IT strategy and chair of the state government’s peak IT decision making body, the ICT Board.

As well as the implementation of the state’s ICT strategy, DFS was the department responsible for the administration of two government anchored data centres in Silverwater and Unanderra, policies regarding IT investment and cloud computing, and technology-specific procurement rules.

As a result of the move, IT will become the remit of the Treasury, under Treasury Secretary Phillip Gaetjens.

The Office of Finance and Services within Treasury will be led by a new, as yet unappointed chief executive.

A spokesman was unable to confirm where the NSW Government CIO title would fall as a result of the shake-up, saying it was still “early days”.

Other departments to receive a make-over include the Department of Attorney-General and Justice which becomes the Department of Police and Justice, and the newly established Department of Planning and Environment.