Liam Maxwell (born June 1968) is a British technology executive and public servant. From April 2016 to August 2018 he was the UK's first National Technology Adviser, having been the UK's first Chief Technology Officer (CTO), as part of the

Government Digital Service The Government Digital Service is a unit of the Government of the United Kingdom's Cabinet Office tasked with transforming the provision of online public services. It was formed in April 2011 to implement the "Digital by Default" strategy prop ...

Government career

Maxwell was a technology policy adviser to the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

in the run-up to the general election in 2010, helping write their manifesto, and following the election he started advising the new coalition administration. In June 2011, Maxwell formally joined the government, taking an apolitical civil service position as Director of "ICT futures" in the

Cabinet Office The Cabinet Office is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for supporting the prime minister and Cabinet. It is composed of various units that support Cabinet committees and which co-ordinate the delivery of government objecti ...

under John Suffolk as Government Chief Information Officer and

Ian Watmore Ian Charles Watmore (born 5 July 1958) is a British management consultant and former senior civil servant under three prime ministers, serving from October 2016 as the First Civil Service Commissioner. Early life and business career Born in C ...

as Chief Operating Officer of the

Efficiency and Reform Group The Efficiency and Reform Group (ERG), established in 2010, was part of the Cabinet Office which worked in partnership with HM Treasury to form the corporate centre for UK Government. Its objectives were to reform the way government works and ...

. In 2012, Maxwell was appointed the new deputy government CIO, following Bill McCluggage's departure, now working under Andy Nelson. In December 2012, the remaining IT functions in the ERG were merged with the parallel

. As part of this, Maxwell became the UK Government's Chief Technology Officer; the rôle of Government Chief Information Officer was not transferred. During his time in GDS, Maxwell established the

Digital 5 The Digital Nations or DN (previously the Digital 5, Digital 7 and Digital 9) is a collaborative network of the world's leading digital governments with a common goal of harnessing digital technology to improve citizens' lives. Members share w ...

group of the world's five leading digitally advanced governments, reformed technology spending controls under the "Technology Code of Practic

and led the

Public Services Network The Public Services Network (PSN) is a UK government's high-performance network, which helps public sector organisations work together, reduce duplication and share resources. It unified the provision of network infrastructure across the United ...

, Crown Hosting Service and Digital Marketplace programmes. In 2014, he committed to staying in the rôle of CTO until at least 2018. In April 2016, it was announced by the Cabinet Office that Maxwell would take on the new position of National Technology Adviser to

Matt Hancock Matthew John David Hancock (born 2 October 1978) is a British politician who served as Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General from 2015 to 2016, Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport from January to July 201 ...

Minister for the Cabinet Office The Minister for the Cabinet Office is a position in the Cabinet Office of the United Kingdom. The minister is responsible for the work and policies of the Cabinet Office, and since February 2022, reports to the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lan ...

and

Ed Vaizey Edward Henry Butler Vaizey, Baron Vaizey of Didcot, (born 5 June 1968) is a British politician, media columnist, political commentator and barrister who was Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries from 2010 to 2016. A memb ...

, Minister for the Digital Economy at the

Department for Culture, Media and Sport , type = Department , logo = Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport logo.svg , logo_width = , logo_caption = , seal = , seal_width = , seal_caption = , picture = Gove ...

. He left the post in August 2018 to take a job at

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...

References

Chief technology officers Living people Place of birth missing (living people) 1968 births {{UK-gov-stub Corruption