Select Committee · Public Accounts Committee

Digital transformation in government: addressing barriers to efficiency

Status: Closed Opened: 29 Mar 2023 Closed: 18 Nov 2023 14 recommendations 11 conclusions 1 report

One of government’s main challenges is achieving efficiency savings. The civil service employs over half a million people in the UK and runs diverse operations and services that range from collecting taxes and processing benefits claims to, for example, granting rod fishing licences. In 2020-21, central government departments expected to spend £456 billion on these …

Clear

Reports

1 report
Title HC No. Published Items Response
Seventieth Report - Digital transformation in government: a… HC 1229 13 Sep 2023 25 Responded

Recommendations & Conclusions

2 items
13 Conclusion Seventieth Report - Digital transformat…

Government over-relies on staff goodwill due to consistently lower digital pay levels.

CDDO told us that government can offer interesting and rewarding opportunities, and the possibility for digital career progression up to levels of seniority that were almost unheard of several years ago.28 It believes this can make a career in the civil service a more attractive proposition.29 Nevertheless, we are still …

HM Treasury
20 Conclusion Seventieth Report - Digital transformat… Not Addressed

Government has made minimal progress on cross-departmental data challenges in the last decade.

Government recognises that the scale of the challenge on data is also enormous. It hopes that its data maturity framework will help address data maturity challenges across government. However, the committee has taken evidence many times on the challenges on data yet government has made little dent in addressing the …

Government response. The government responded by quoting an existing 'commitment 3' regarding departments working to make essential shared data assets available through APIs and platforms. This does not directly address the committee's specific concerns about historical lack of progress or departmental prioritisation.
HM Treasury

Oral evidence sessions

1 session
Date Witnesses
22 May 2023 Alex Chisholm · Cabinet Office, Megan Lee Devlin · Cabinet Office, Paul Willmott · Cabinet Office View ↗

Correspondence

2 letters
DateDirectionTitle
11 Sep 2023 Correspondence from Paul Lincoln CB OBE VR, Second Permanent Secretary, Ministr…
19 Jun 2023 Correspondence from Alex Chisholm, Civil Service Chief Operating Officer and Ca…