Recommendation 6

We are not convinced that current plans for the transformation of security vetting are any more likely to succeed than previous failed attempts. The Cabinet Office’s first attempt at modernising the IT infrastructure for national security vetting failed, after unknowingly running almost 50% over budget and resulting in a £2.5 million write off in the Cabinet Office’s 2021–22 annual accounts. Despite broad consensus on the need for the transformation programme across government, which customers have already funded, subsequent attempts at vetting reform have been stymied by the lack of spending approval and the priority given to the stabilisation programme over the transformation programme. After multiple failed attempts to get Cabinet Office spending approval for the whole Vetting Transformation programme, in December 2022 UKSV changed its approach and finally got spending approval for the development of just the first of three new vetting levels. As a result of the delays, UKSV anticipates it will have to refund around £5 million to customers. UKSV’s Chief Executive says she is confident that adopting a more iterative approach will be more successful. We would like to share her confidence but the track record for transformation to date does not bode well for the future. In our view, until such time as the Cabinet Office starts to take its responsibility for national security vetting more seriously, shows more confidence in UKSV and provides more support, it is unlikely that transformation will be fully achieved. 8 The performance of UK Security Vetting Recommendation 6: The Cabinet Office should set out a clear implementation plan for vetting transformation, with interim milestones for each of the new vetting levels and a realistic completion date. It should set out the key elements of this plan in its Treasury Minute response to this report. The performance of UK Security Vetting 9 1 UK Security Vetting’s poor performance and remedial actions