Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 18
18
Legacy systems remain a significant source of inefficiency and constraint on government service modernisation.
Conclusion
Across government, legacy systems are a key source of inefficiency and a major constraint to improving and modernising government services. Legacy systems are difficult and expensive to run and maintain and there are substantial hidden costs from additional business processes to overcome their limitations.40 CDDO has assessed the scale of legacy issues in 153 systems so far, across 16 departments. The framework provides 32 C&AG’s Report, para 3.6 33 Q 56 34 Q 52 35 Q 54 36 Q 6 37 Qq 2–3 38 C&AG’s Report, para 3.5 39 Q 37 40 C&AG’s Report, para 3.17 Digital transformation in government: addressing the barriers to efficiency 13 a consistent way of ranking legacy systems across government.41 The highest-risk systems have been identified and remediation plans have been set up and funded.42 The framework is expected to be rolled out to remaining departments by April 2024.43
Government Response
A response document is linked to this report, dated 18 November 2023. Response attribution to this conclusion has not been verified. Read the response document ↗