Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 4
4
Accepted
Require Cabinet Office to detail UKSV's required resourcing and close staff shortfalls.
Recommendation
UKSV cannot deliver timely security vetting across government with its current staff levels. Despite its essential role in protecting national security, UKSV has been under-staffed to meet customer demand forecasts since its inception in 2017. In April 2021, when faced with an upsurge in demand for its services following the relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions, UKSV had a 32% shortfall in staff resources. In November 2022 it was still 23% short of estimated need, including digital staff required for the vetting transformation programme, despite securing additional contingent labour and temporary staff from other departments. UKSV says its resourcing levels meant it had to make difficult decisions as to which service areas it prioritised, with aftercare checks one area that suffered as a consequence. The Cabinet Office expects some of the slack to be addressed through higher pay for digital staff and increased automation as part of its vetting transformation programme, although it accepts that the completion of transformation is some way off. To compound matters, survey results show low levels of engagement among UKSV staff. UKSV’s Chief Executive says that her staff have an immense pride in the organisation but also acknowledges they are suffering from ‘change fatigue’. The performance of UK Security Vetting 7 Recommendation 4: The Cabinet Office should set out: • what resourcing levels UKSV needs to make progress with its transformation programme and to achieve its service level agreements for customers’ forecast demand in 2023–24 • what the agreed level of resourcing is for 2023–24, and • if there is a shortfall, how UKSV is expected to close that gap
Government Response Summary
The Cabinet Office has approved funding for a temporary surge of contingent labour and fixed-term contracts for UKSV in 2023-24 to clear backlogs. It will review funding in September 2023 and present a transformation resourcing model in an Outline Business Case in October 2023.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Recommendation implemented UKSV has identified a requirement for a temporary surge of contingent labour and fixed term contracts for the financial year 2023-24 to support the meeting of customer demand and stabilisation of performance through clearance of the backlog of cases. Burden-share partners have agreed to fund this surge. The Cabinet Office has provided UKSV with the necessary approvals. There have been significant efforts over several months to recruit to the levels needed, and although UKSV is operating in a challenging market, good progress has been made. In addition to recruitment, the training and deployment of staff into the vetting process is a significant undertaking and UKSV has redirected the majority of its enabling resources to support this activity. UKSV currently assesses that the funding and approvals are appropriate for the demands of the programme but will review this jointly with customers and Cabinet Office approvals teams in September 2023. On the transformation programme, progress has been made on recruiting digital professionals to support the existing in-house IT delivery model. This remains a significant area of risk given the competitive market conditions for these skills. The outputs of the ongoing digital discovery exercise will inform the resourcing model and wider delivery approach for transformation moving forward. This approach will be set out in an Outline Business Case for consideration in October 2023.