Government hires digital expert to Twitter

Houses of Parliament

A director of Digital Engagement has been appointed by the UK Government this week to push its Power of Information agenda.

Andrew Stott, currently the Government's deputy chief information officer, took up the role based with Government Communications in the Cabinet Office.

A statement from the Cabinet Office on its website said the remit of the job was to "work across Government departments to encourage, support and challenge them in moving from communicating to citizens on the web to conversing and collaborating with them through digital technology."

His role includes keeping the new Twitter account, @DirDigEng, up to date.

The statement also said Stott will encourage civil servants to use more web tools improving communications both internally, between departments, and externally, for the service users.

An extra responsibility for Stott will be to chair the Government's Knowledge Council.

Minister for Digital Engagement, Tom Watson MP, said: "I am delighted that Andrew Stott will be leading on these vital programmes for government."

"Together we will transform the way that government engages with citizens through the internet and free up government data, so that people can use public services more effectively."

Andrew Stott was not available for comment on this story.

Jennifer Scott

Jennifer Scott is a former freelance journalist and currently political reporter for Sky News. She has a varied writing history, having started her career at Dennis Publishing, working in various roles across its business technology titles, including ITPro. Jennifer has specialised in a number of areas over the years and has produced a wealth of content for ITPro, focusing largely on data storage, networking, cloud computing, and telecommunications.

Most recently Jennifer has turned her skills to the political sphere and broadcast journalism, where she has worked for the BBC as a political reporter, before moving to Sky News.