Updated: Gov confirms departure of G-Cloud director

The Cabinet Office has confirmed that G-Cloud programme director, Chris Chant, is to retire at the end of the month.

Chant has played an active role in both the launch of the G-Cloud Procurement Framework and the rollout of the Government's IT purchasing hub, CloudStore.

In a statement to IT Pro, the Cabinet Office thanked Chant for his years of service, and - in particular - his help with the launch of G-Cloud.

The G-Cloud programme will continue following Chris Chant's departure.

"Chris leaves Government ICT in a strong position and we wish him all the best in the future," said the statement.

"The G-Cloud programme will continue following his departure [and] a decision on the role will be made in the coming weeks."

Contrary to the statement above, Chant's replacement was actually announced earlier this afternoon, with Home Office IT director, Denise McDonagh, set to take over the role from 30 April.

News of his departure comes several days after Chant used the G-Cloud blog to launch a scathing attack on government CIOs.

"CIOs across Government, including me, have been guilty for too long of taking the easy path. We have signed contracts with single suppliers that have led to both poor service and high costs because that is the way Government did things," said Chant.

"[We] allowed our users to suffer with IT that is a decade or more behind what they are using at home because the security considerations for Government are different and stricter from those for everyone else."