Daljit Rehal FBCS, Chief Digital and Information Officer for HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has been announced as the new President of BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, the professional body for information technology.
At HMRC Rehal is responsible for all IT systems and the Valuation Office Agency as well as for the running of Live Services of critical systems for customers. He is also a member of Cross Government forum and a proven leader with experience in creating business value through Culture, People, Process and Technology.
Professionalism
He takes over from Alastair Revell FBCS, who will remain active as Immediate Past President of BCS. Revell featured in Archives of IT’s Forum on Norms for the Digital Age in January as part of a panel discussion on professionalism where he championed professional registration for information technologists, which has been a key element of his presidency:
“My presidential theme has been focused on chartered and professional registrations, which I have advocated for throughout my time as president, and much of my career. I believe fervently in building a chartered profession for those working in IT, digital and computing. Our profession increasingly has a profound impact on the daily lives of everyone, so ensuring we do it right is vitally important to society.”
Revell spearheaded the BCS’s inaugural Chartered Week last month for leading professional bodies which attracted more than 40 diverse organisations and said of Rehal: “[His] experience gives our community a powerful voice at time when public confidence in the transformational power of technology is vital. We can be proud to have the combined experience and insight of both Daljit and Sarah [Sarah Winmill, BCS’s new Deputy President] to call on to represent our values and mission to make IT Good for Society.”
Helping to build public trust
Rehal said he would continue Revell’s ‘outstanding’ work and that he shared his belief that chartered professionals make a public commitment to ethics, competence and accountability by meeting independent standards.
“Nowhere is that more important in technology where AI is woven into our lives like never before in areas from health to finance,” he said.
“My focus as BCS President will continue this theme – helping to build public trust in the value of tech professionals, and their ongoing development in roles across the public and private sector. We know that the AI Opportunities Action Plan aims to create tens of thousands of new AI professionals by 2030, and we will need a range of routes to get there from university degrees to apprenticeships, as well as prioritising diversity. It will be a huge year for the professional body and for our membership community.”
In 2025 BCS is focusing on:
– the importance of professional standards in building public trust in technology
– the need to broaden computing education and adult digital skills
– the value of diversity and inclusion across the sector, where women, over 50s and people with disabilities or who are neurodivergent are under represented.