Press release

Government Digital Service opens for business

The Government Digital Service (GDS) has been set up to deliver world class digital products that meet people’s needs.

This was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

The Government Digital Service (GDS) has been set up to deliver world class digital products that meet people’s needs and offer better value for taxpayers’ money.

The new service was first created in August following Martha Lane Fox’s review of the government digital estate and brings together six parts of government digital services in one place.

Speaking at yesterday’s launch event, Minister for the Cabinet Office, Francis Maude, said:

The GDS will be the centre for digital government in the UK. It will transform the way people access government information by using digital technology to deliver services that put the user first and give them the smartest and most cost-effective service possible.

I’d like to thank Martha Lane Fox for helping us to kick off our journey to make our services ‘digital by default’ and for her continuing support.

Mike Bracken, co-founder of Mysociety and former director of digital development at Guardian News and Media, has been appointed as Executive Director of GDS.

Writing in the GDS blog, Mike Bracken said:

The government in its wider sense now has a digital home, and it’s from here we can help drive a new generation of digital public services. Cross-government working, for so long an abstract concept, is starting to happen around this digital centre. And we will continue to throw our doors open to suppliers and partners.

Talent is arriving. The mission at GDS is attractive to digital experts and public policy specialists alike and we are starting to see new skills take root within Government.

Creating an environment for technology leaders to flourish’ is one of our key principles, and we are starting to live up to it.

GDS has already had a number of successes in the four months it has been operational, including the e-petitions service. Nearly 3 million people have now signed an e-petition, with six petitions either having been or scheduled for debate in Parliament.

Published 9 December 2011