The UK government has revealed its new chief information officer. Joe Harley, currently serving as CIO of the Department of Work and Pensions, will take the job as of tomorrow.

Harley will report to the government’s chief operating officer Ian Watmore, himself a former government CIO, and Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude.

Before joining the public sector in 2004, Harley cut his teeth at oil giant BP and at ICI Paints. “Joe is one of the most successful CIOs from the private sector and for the past six years has been superb in his DWP role,” said Maude in a statement today.

“I am delighted and privileged to be taking on the government CIO role,” Harley himself said. “I believe we have a great opportunity to make a difference by transforming our ICT services to radically change the way we do business across government and deliver public sector reform.”

Harley’s appointment follows the departure of John Suffolk, who announced his resignation in November 2010.

The Cabinet Office also announced today the creation of a new senior IT role in government, a “director of ICT futures”. Reporting to Harley, the successful candidate for this role will be responsible for “implementing new ways of designing and developing systems using agile methods and skunkworks environments; increasing the drive towards open standards and open source software; change the terrain for SMEs to enter the government marketplace; and maintain a horizon scan of future technologies and methods.”