Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 19
19
Accepted
Government's digital transformation maturity remains low, missing significant benefits from fundamental re-engineering.
Recommendation
Government has a low level of maturity in the transformation of digital services and the benefits to be gained from a more fundamental approach are estimated to be three or four times the current level.44 Past approaches have focussed on improving websites and front-end screens , making services “look good but not be good”, whilst not addressing the limitations posed by the existing legacy systems and data.45 The tendency to tweak rather than re-engineer is a lost opportunity to transform services and gain efficiency benefits.46 Piecemeal legacy system development introduces unwanted additional complexity and can increase costs.47
Government Response Summary
The government accepted the recommendation, agreeing to address low digital service transformation maturity. CDDO will work with departments and HMT to ensure business cases fully consider legacy system costs and avoided costs from service redesign, with a target implementation date of 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.