Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 21
21
Deferred
Defra's digital investment funding is inadequate for comprehensive legacy service transformation.
Conclusion
In the 2021 Spending Review, Defra received £871 million for digital investment for 2021–2025, of which £366 million was to address legacy issues and bring its systems up to date. The remainder was for investment in the Future Farming and Countryside and borders and trade programmes which were needed to support EU Exit as well as flood- related IT.45 Defra received 58% of the funding it bid for in the 2021 Spending Review. According to Defra, this was sufficient funding to resolve some major operational and cyber risks and automation, but not enough to fund a broader digital transformation of all legacy services. For example, it aims to digitise all of its 20 most used services but none of this work is yet funded. Defra had to prioritise its activities to determine what it could deliver with this money.46
Government Response Summary
The government agrees with the conclusion, acknowledging budget pressures and stating that CDDO will support departments in prioritising efforts. Defra will conduct an analysis of its service landscape to determine investment priorities ahead of the SR24 bidding process and will inform the Committee of its findings and planned actions.
Government Response
Deferred
HM Government
Deferred
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: September 2024. Defra is fully supportive of the government’s 2025 roadmap Transforming for a Digital Future, which was deliberately designed to be deliverable within Spending Review settlements. CDDO undertook analysis of funded projects and potential costs and used these to set informed targets, in order to work within departmental budgets. CDDO recognises that the economic environment remains uncertain and highly challenging, putting additional pressures on departmental budgets that weren’t there when the roadmap was published. CDDO intends to publish a 1-year update outlining progress across government and providing greater clarity on delivery plans for year 2 and year 3. Following this, CDDO will support departments to prioritise effort in the areas most needed and where necessary, will flag any long-term delivery concerns as a result of tightened budgets. As part of this process, Defra will conduct an analysis of its own service landscape, including supporting technologies, to determine priority areas for investment ahead of SR24 bidding. As far as possible, this will include efficiency savings that could be achieved through modernising its systems and processes. Defra will write to the Committee within a year of the analysis finishing to advise on the conclusions drawn and actions being planned as a result.