Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 15
15
Accepted
Lack of single service ownership hinders understanding of end-to-end costs and operations.
Recommendation
A single director-level owner for each service, with accountability for its end-to-end operation and decision-making authority for continually improving the service, would enable departments to form a complete and joined-up view of their services and associated costs.32 Understanding the full cost base of an existing service is key to delivering efficiency. CDDO told us that in the private sector, information such as unit costs, time to serve and error rates is ‘foundational’. Without good information on a service’s starting point, it is very difficult to make a business case for improvement, and provide a baseline for tracking those improvements.33 Government has some visibility of the digital, data and technology element of a service’s costs. However, it is challenging to get a full picture from the point where a user begins to interact with a service through to the final decision. This is a core aim of CDDO’s ‘top 75’ programme.34
Government Response Summary
The government accepts the recommendation, stating that the CDDO has drafted a new standard for a Single Service Owner. This standard is currently being piloted across several organisations and will be rolled out for departmental adoption in the financial year 2024-25.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
1.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: June 2025 1.2 The Central Digital and Data Office (CDDO) has drafted a new standard for a Single Service Owner and is currently piloting this across a number of organisations. CDDO will then roll this new standard out for departmental adoption in the financial year 2024-25.