Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 18
18
Accepted
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 Summary
The government agrees with the committee's observation on legacy systems and commits to CDDO working with departments and HM Treasury to ensure the business case process thoroughly considers both legacy and future avoided costs from service redesign by June 2025.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
2.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: June 2025 2.2 Through the spend assurance process, CDDO asks departments to consider the effects of legacy, for example, the cost of decommissioning existing legacy systems. To ensure this recommendation is fully implemented, CDDO will work with departments and HM Treasury (HMT) to ensure the business case process thoroughly considers both these costs and future avoided costs from service redesign.