Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 14
14
Accepted
Defra utilises pay frameworks, hybrid working, and apprenticeships to attract digital staff.
Conclusion
Defra told us that the digital, data and technology pay framework, which allowed supplements to be paid based on capability for specific digital roles, helped it to attract digital staff. It expected forthcoming changes to the framework, such as changes to career progression and the breadth of roles covered, to help further recruit the staff it needs. We asked what Defra had done to make the roles as attractive as possible, for example through hybrid working. Defra told us that it had used this for both recruiting those with digital skills, but also in its recruitment more generally. It also explained that it had brought in more junior staff through setting up its own academy and used apprenticeships to provide a pipeline of experienced staff. Defra told us that people often joined the department because they were committed to improving the environment and explained how it actively promoted not just a job vacancy but also the outcome they will deliver, such as protecting and enhancing the environment.30 25 HM Treasury, Treasury Minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Twenty- Seventh to the Thirty-First reports from Session 2021–22, CP 631, February 2022 26 C&AG’s Report, paras 5, 15, 1.23 27 Q 65; Central Digital and Data Office, Transforming for a digital future: 2022 to 2025 roadmap for digital and data, 9 June 2022 28 Qq 58–59 29 Qq 59, 65 30 Qq 59–61 Tackling Defra’s ageing digital services 13 2 Defra’s long-term strategy Defra’s long-term strategy and vision for digital transformation
Government Response Summary
The government agrees with the committee's observation, stating the recommendation has been implemented through ongoing initiatives detailed in the 2025 Roadmap for Digital and Data. CDDO is leading efforts to build digital skills, reform pay frameworks, and enhance early talent offers, while Defra is implementing specific recruitment strategies and targets to reduce reliance on contingent labour.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Recommendation implemented. The government’s commitment to build digital skills at scale and reducing reliance on contingent labour, is set out in the 2025 Roadmap for Digital and Data. Across government, CDDO is leading a number of initiatives to reduce the overall digital skills gap. CDDO is enabling departments to reform pay via the Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) Pay Framework, with 32 organisations already signed up and able to recycle funds that would have been used for contractors into funding for capability-based pay progression. CDDO has also facilitated bulk and brigaded recruitment campaigns across government and is working in partnership with Government People Group as part of their broader work to improve recruitment across the civil service. CDDO is enhancing government’s early talent offer: it has delivered a Summer Diversity Intern Programme (54 interns across 16 depts); the DDaT fast stream (175 fast streamers on 2020-22 cohorts and 102 bids received for 2023’s programme); Tech Smart Futures (20 students from low socio-economic backgrounds); Software Developer Graduate Programme (14 graduates finishing in Autumn 2024); DDaT Apprentices (679). In Defra specifically, the department is adopting a range of new approaches to recruit DDaT civil servants. The key ones are: • using digital market analysis and job text analyser tools to develop understanding of the digital recruitment market and to make job roles more accessible to a wider and more diverse audience. • collating evidence to support business cases for higher starting salaries in Defra’s priority ‘hard to recruit’ roles. • working with recruitment partners to target some of the priority hard to recruit roles and building a resourcing pipeline focusing on the development of academies, recruit-train- deploy schemes, and apprenticeships. • minimising the risk of candidates withdrawing by reducing time to hire and improving the candidate experience. • establishing Digital Academies that focus on growing Defra’s own talent to replace contractors. • maximising its use of the DDaT Pay framework. • having dedicated LinkedIn page for its digital team (2,500 followers currently) to post weekly jobs of the week videos, blog posts to sell benefits and what DDTS life is like for candidates to understand Defra’s culture. This has seen an increase in applications from LinkedIn by 20%; and • increasing its use of external websites for DDaT roles (Defra’s analysis shows that 20% of applicants for these roles have applied via LinkedIn and 10% on Indeed). Defra is working towards a target of 25% of headcount being contingent labour (with the remaining 75% being civil servants) for the end of 2023-24; and 12% of headcount being contingent labour (with the remaining 88% being civil servants) by the end of 2024-25.