Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 22
22
Accepted
Defra aims to improve 12 key digital services to 'great' standard within existing budgets.
Conclusion
We asked how departments would deliver the ambitions and standards set for digitisation using their existing budgets. Defra was confident it could fulfil the commitments made in the CDDO’s Roadmap and that it would get the 12 services in the government’s top 75 to a “great” standard by 2025 by improving both their usability and their efficiency.47 It explained that it was finding ways to achieve as much as possible with the funding that it had, for example opportunities to introduce something new but to improve an existing service at the same time. It also told us that it had identified areas where it will prioritise digitising or transforming a service if it is able to release funding from its existing budget, for example by delivering another programme “better and quicker”.48
Government Response Summary
The government agrees with the committee's implied recommendation, stating Defra supports the 2025 roadmap and will conduct an analysis of its service landscape to determine investment priorities, reporting back to the Committee within a year. CDDO will also publish a 1-year update on cross-government progress by September 2024.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
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.