Recommendations & Conclusions
10 items
2
Recommendation
Thirtieth Report - Challenges in implem…
Not Addressed
There is no clear plan to replace or modernise legacy systems and data that are critical to service provision but are often old, unsupportable, vulnerable and a constraint on transformation. Legacy systems, some of which date back to the 1970s, are widespread across government, which relies on them for important …
Read more
There is no clear plan to replace or modernise legacy systems and data that are critical to service provision but are often old, unsupportable, vulnerable and a constraint on transformation. Legacy systems, some of which date back to the 1970s, are widespread across government, which relies on them for important services such as managing the UK’s borders and paying the State Pension. Many of these systems are stable and performing acceptably at reasonable cost, but others are high-risk, unreliable, contain security vulnerabilities, or frustrate business transformation. Despite this, departments have a limited understanding of their legacy estate and the centre of government does not have an ongoing process for assessing and understanding what cross-government legacy risk looks like. The Central Digital and Data Office (CDDO) is now testing how it can gather information on departmental legacy systems. The CDDO hopes to prioritise where departments most need to take remedial action using a risk-based model and to roll this out more widely at the start of 2022. This is encouraging and we look forward to seeing the centre and departments take concrete action to begin to address high-risk legacy systems next year. Recommendation: At the start of 2022 the CDDO should work with departments to map legacy systems across government to document what is there, why it exists and how critical it is. By the end of 2022 the CDDO should use this to produce a pipeline of legacy systems they have prioritised with milestones for action. This pipeline should be shared with the Committee.
Show less
Government response AI summary
Despite stating agreement with the recommendation to map and prioritise legacy IT systems and providing a target implementation date of January 2023, the government's subsequent explanation discusses environmental targets and the Environment Act 2021, which is entirely unrelated to the committee's recommendation.
Read full response →
HM Treasury
3
Recommendation
Thirtieth Report - Challenges in implem…
Not Addressed
Departments have failed to understand the difference between improving what currently exists and real digital transformation, meaning that they have missed opportunities to move to modern, efficient ways of working. The Cabinet Office concedes that too often operations and services fail to recognise the fundamental 6 Challenges in implementing digital …
Read more
Departments have failed to understand the difference between improving what currently exists and real digital transformation, meaning that they have missed opportunities to move to modern, efficient ways of working. The Cabinet Office concedes that too often operations and services fail to recognise the fundamental 6 Challenges in implementing digital change inefficiencies of legacy systems and their data; and instead build new systems on top of these using the old data. Programmes have not sufficiently considered the potential and longer-lasting benefits for the citizen of redesigning and transforming public services around new business processes, data, and emerging technologies. Government has developed several new systems in response to specific needs arising from EU exit, but these were all developed to meet a narrow purpose by fixed deadlines. We recognise the delivery of initiatives such as GOV.UK Notify and Pay, but we note these are relatively straightforward commodity services that are widely available commercially. We are not convinced these demonstrate government’s ability to secure the deeper levels of transformation needed to achieve a more fundamental redesign of business services for the digital age. Cultivating better systems analysis, data analysis and design skills would help government gain a greater understanding of where to focus its efforts. Recommendation: The Cabinet Office and departments should introduce a structured way of deciding whether the changes they are making represent incremental improvements to existing systems, or a more transformational redesign of business processes. The Cabinet Office and departments should reflect this in the depth and rigour of the initial scoping and design of programmes.
Show less
Government response AI summary
The government's response for this item quotes a different PAC conclusion regarding skills shortages, and does not address the committee's recommendation for a structured approach to distinguish between incremental and transformational digital changes.
Read full response →
HM Treasury
4
Recommendation
Thirtieth Report - Challenges in implem…
Not Addressed
Digital programmes often fail to have their own single programme office to support the programme director to align all aspects throughout the lifetime of the programme, including integration of legacy and future systems. Although the Cabinet Office has started to try to strengthen central oversight of digital programmes, government’s digital …
Read more
Digital programmes often fail to have their own single programme office to support the programme director to align all aspects throughout the lifetime of the programme, including integration of legacy and future systems. Although the Cabinet Office has started to try to strengthen central oversight of digital programmes, government’s digital functions are relatively immature when compared with the long-standing control exercised by HM Treasury over financial management. The breadth and complexity of government presents a significant challenge to putting in place common approaches and ensuring programmes do what they are supposed to do in the right way. Departments find it difficult to manage integration and connections between different systems, especially legacy systems, both within and outside programmes. Departments need a strong, internal programme office for each major programme. These programme offices need a depth of digital expertise beyond what might be provided by a non-specialist programme board, backed up by a strong function at the departmental level and at centre of government (e.g., a centre of excellence) to ensure this happens. A recent report commissioned by the Cabinet Office found there has been too much reliance on contractors or external consultants for core design or architectural decisions, which need a long-term and holistic view across government. The Cabinet Office told us that it has already accepted and is implementing the report’s recommendations. These include a strong, expert central team with real ‘teeth’ to take ownership of digital, data and technology standards including technology choices, privacy, security, and interoperability. Recommendation: The Cabinet Office should develop guidance on how to approach legacy integration, and mandate rigorous and professional design, data and infrastructure controls and practices, with appropriate accountabilities.
Show less
Government response AI summary
The government's response quotes a different PAC conclusion regarding departments struggling to track benefits and costs, completely failing to address the recommendation for the Cabinet Office to develop guidance on legacy integration and mandate design/data controls.
Read full response →
HM Treasury
5
Recommendation
Thirtieth Report - Challenges in implem…
Not Addressed
Departments have failed to develop a modern professional approach to IT operations needed to support business change and transformation and have created an over-reliance on outsourcing. Departmental IT functions are often not structured or funded in a way that allows them to run and update their core systems Challenges in …
Read more
Departments have failed to develop a modern professional approach to IT operations needed to support business change and transformation and have created an over-reliance on outsourcing. Departmental IT functions are often not structured or funded in a way that allows them to run and update their core systems Challenges in implementing digital change 7 and support business transformation. This is not helped by the current problem of alignment between Spending Review allocations and annual funding and the need to deliver outcomes over long periods in major multi-billion-pound programmes, which have led to under-investment in resolving legacy system issues and in maintaining systems’ ongoing fitness for purpose. Government accepts the less successful programmes were typically excessively outsourced by departments who had a thinly resourced internal client function. This led to a dependence on external consultants who may have considerable expertise in some areas but who have little or noknowledge of the existing systems. Government also concedes that in the past it selected technology too early in programmes and incorporated it into supplier contracts, before fully understanding the business problem to be solved. This has inhibited flexibility and the ability to change direction when needed. Government has been slow to pivot or stop programmes when it has become clear they are not working, as typified by GOV.UK Verify. Recommendation: The Central Digital and Data Office should set out what departments need to put in place to improve the maturity of departments’ approach to IT operations and change including: • what the Intelligent Client Function should do; • what influence Digital specialist leaders should have; • who should be accountable and responsible for contracting; and • the assurance mechanisms at the beginning and throughout the lifecycle.
Show less
Government response AI summary
The government's response quotes a different PAC conclusion about government efficiency drives, and does not address the recommendation for the Central Digital and Data Office to outline improvements for departments' IT operations and change maturity.
Read full response →
HM Treasury
6
Recommendation
Thirtieth Report - Challenges in implem…
Not Addressed
There is a large gap between the demand for and supply of the digital specialists that government needs, and it is hard to get the right balance of in-house and outsourced skills. Government has been excessively reliant on outsourcing and has failed to retain sufficient in-house capability. The Central Digital …
Read more
There is a large gap between the demand for and supply of the digital specialists that government needs, and it is hard to get the right balance of in-house and outsourced skills. Government has been excessively reliant on outsourcing and has failed to retain sufficient in-house capability. The Central Digital and Data Office now has responsibility for government’s capability building strategy, but recognises government does not yet have the depth of experience needed to deliver across the full breadth of its digital portfolio. The demand for digital skills is increasing, not just in the public sector but also in the private sector and there are shortages in key areas such as architects and people who can lead delivery. We are concerned that despite its intent government is yet to make meaningful progress in overcoming long-standing challenges. It wishes to bring more digital activity in-house but faces a difficult external recruitment market. Specialists in scarce supply earn significantly more money in the private sector than the government is willing to pay, so it can be hard for the civil service to attract and retain them at appropriate levels. Recommendation: The Central Digital and Data Office should write to us, within 6 months, setting out how it intends to measure progress against its capability strategy, and annually thereafter to report what progress it has made against those metrics. 8 Challenges in implementing digital change 1 Leadership and capability
Show less
Government response AI summary
The government's response did not address the recommendation for the Central Digital and Data Office to report on its capability strategy and progress metrics, instead restating a previous PAC conclusion.
Read full response →
HM Treasury
1
Conclusion
Thirtieth Report - Challenges in implem…
Not Addressed
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from the Cabinet Office and HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) on the challenges in implementing digital change in government.1
Government response AI summary
The government's response quotes a different PAC conclusion about efficiency drives and cost shunting, and does not address the committee's introductory statement about the evidence session on digital change challenges.
Read full response →
HM Treasury
7
Conclusion
Thirtieth Report - Challenges in implem…
Not Addressed
Many of the systems government use are not really geared up to modern technology and some date back to the 1970s.14 The Cabinet Office told us that government is a difficult environment for digital projects, partly because these previous systems and old data, known as ‘legacy’, can stand in the …
Read more
Many of the systems government use are not really geared up to modern technology and some date back to the 1970s.14 The Cabinet Office told us that government is a difficult environment for digital projects, partly because these previous systems and old data, known as ‘legacy’, can stand in the way of progress.15 Government relies on legacy systems for many important services.16 For example legacy systems are used by the Home Office to manage the UK border and by police forces to access criminal records and share intelligence.17 This means government is often building on top of existing systems with complex operational dependencies.18 This makes it challenging to move off legacy systems to modern replacements.19
Show less
Government response AI summary
The government's response directly addresses PAC recommendation #2 (regarding mapping and prioritising legacy IT systems) by agreeing, setting a target date of December 2022, detailing a £2.6 billion investment, and outlining plans for a common methodology for identifying legacy risk and remediation, which is not …
Read full response →
HM Treasury
10
Conclusion
Thirtieth Report - Challenges in implem…
Not Addressed
The Cabinet Office concedes that too often operations and services fail to recognise the fundamental inefficiencies of legacy systems and the data they contain.26 The National Audit Office reported that government has been trying to improve its digital performance for the past 25 years27 but has not been successful in …
Read more
The Cabinet Office concedes that too often operations and services fail to recognise the fundamental inefficiencies of legacy systems and the data they contain.26 The National Audit Office reported that government has been trying to improve its digital performance for the past 25 years27 but has not been successful in achieving the intended results and departments have continued to build on top of legacy systems and data.28 Programmes have concentrated on automating existing way of working without focusing sufficiently on trying to redesign public services around new business processes and use of data and technology in new ways.29
Show less
Government response AI summary
The government's response directly addresses PAC recommendation #2 (regarding mapping and prioritising legacy IT systems) by agreeing, setting a target date of December 2022, detailing a £2.6 billion investment, and outlining plans for a common methodology for identifying legacy risk and remediation, which is not …
Read full response →
HM Treasury
17
Conclusion
Thirtieth Report - Challenges in implem…
Not Addressed
Government accepts that it is important to have deep digital, data and technology expertise preserved within departments. Government has excessively outsourced programmes and has very thinly resourced the internal client function capability within departments. That has been a problem and has led to a dependence on external experts, without sufficient …
Read more
Government accepts that it is important to have deep digital, data and technology expertise preserved within departments. Government has excessively outsourced programmes and has very thinly resourced the internal client function capability within departments. That has been a problem and has led to a dependence on external experts, without sufficient internal expertise.41
Show less
Government response AI summary
The government's response for this item addresses a different recommendation (PAC recommendation 5) regarding the DDaT Office setting out improvements for IT operations, rather than the provided conclusion on excessive outsourcing and thinly resourced internal capability.
Read full response →
HM Treasury
20
Conclusion
Thirtieth Report - Challenges in implem…
Not Addressed
The Cabinet Office accepted that government still has a capability problem and is not as sophisticated as it needs to be.52 There are not yet enough people with the depth 41 Qq 12, 73 42 Q 4, 73 43 Qq 4, 46, 63 44 Q 4 45 Q 48 46 …
Read more
The Cabinet Office accepted that government still has a capability problem and is not as sophisticated as it needs to be.52 There are not yet enough people with the depth 41 Qq 12, 73 42 Q 4, 73 43 Qq 4, 46, 63 44 Q 4 45 Q 48 46 Qq 43–44, 62, 65–66, 73 47 Q 7 48 Q 12 49 Committee of Public Accounts, Supporting Primary Care Services: NHS England’s contract with Capita, Fifty- Seventh Report of Session 2017–19, HC 698, 25 July 2018; C&AG’s Report, figure 8 50 C&AG’s Report, The National Law Enforcement Data Programme, Session 2021–22, HC 663, 10 September 2021, Para 2.15 51 C&AG’s Report, The challenges in implementing digital change, Session 2021–22, HC 575, 21 July 2021, para 2.11 52 Qq 21, 73 Challenges in implementing digital change 13 of experience needed to deliver across the breadth of the governments digital portfolio.53 Government is trying to build its internal skills and capabilities at a time when the external recruitment market is challenging.54 The Cabinet Office agreed that the supply of digital skills is not enough to match the demand in the public and private sectors. This leads to shortages of key skills, such as digital architects and software developers.55 Government also faces challenges in building capability beyond those faced by the private sector. Government digital and technology leaders surveyed by the National Audit Office identified the amount departments can pay specialists and civil service recruitment processes as the biggest barriers to recruitment and retention.56 53 Q 73 54 C&AG’s Report, para 3.4 55 Q 7 56 C&AG’s Report, figure 13 14 Challenges in implementing digital change
Show less
Government response AI summary
The government's response addresses PAC recommendation #6 (regarding measuring progress against the DDaT Capability strategy) by agreeing to report metrics within six months, and outlining initiatives such as a 'single front door' for recruitment and a new digital training academy, which is not a direct …
Read full response →
HM Treasury