Crown Prosecution Service(CPS)chief information officer David Jones has resigned from his post to take up a role at US defence technology firm Lockheed Martin.
Jones started his new role of managing director of information systems and global services for the company's UK defence business on 10 September.
Lockheed Martin is a major IT supplier to the UK government and earlier this year,it was selected to provide a range of services to support the Cabinet Office's G-Cloud framework.
According to the supplier,Jones"adhered to all UK government and company requirements"before taking up his new role.
In a statement,Lockheed Martin said that"its continued success and ability to compete in the marketplace depends on ensuring we neither hire nor work with former government employees in any manner which creates a real or perceived conflict of interest."
It added:"All the company's employees are aware of and abide by both the letter and spirit of this requirement which forms a key part of the company's code of ethics and business conduct."
During nearly five years at the CPS,Jones worked on enabling digital working at the department.He led a comprehensive technology revamp at the CPS and an IT-led transformation aimed at streamlining and modernising operations across the entire criminal justice system.
Prior to joining CPS in 2008,Jones served as an army officer for 29 years.
Philip French,formerly chief technology officer at the Ministry of Justice,also quit the civil service to join Steria last month,and similarly had to comply with the Government Business Appointment Rules.In French's case,that meant he is not allowed have any dealings with the Ministry of Justice(MoJ)or the National Offender Management Service for 12 months from his last day of service,unless at the explicit request of the MoJ.
