Alex Allan who left the post as the governments e-envoy on Friday has been temporarily replaced with Andrew Pinder, an independent IT consultant and former IT director with the Inland Revenue.

The reporting structure for existing appointments such as the e-commerce director Chris Parker, e-government director Ann Steward and director of e-communications Lucian Hudson will continue to report to Pinder to ensure a smooth transition once the post has been filled on a permanent basis.

Applications for the post of e-envoy are to close on October 23 and the Cabinet Office is expected to take about a month to review candidates before an appointment is made for the post.

Pinder, who will not be applying for the full-time position has previously held posts as the IT director for Prudential Corporation and head of technology at Citibank.