Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 8
8
Accepted
Significant risks, including funding and timetable, persist for Shared Services Strategy delivery.
Conclusion
The Cabinet Office told us that the strategy is on track.8 However, several risks remain to its delivery. For example, the Department of Work & Pensions set out three main risks for the ‘Synergy’ shared services cluster: funding uncertainties; a tight timetable; and realising the potential benefits of the strategy. On the timetable, the Department told us that the cluster is looking to extend its contract with its current business process services (BPS) provider, which runs out in October 2023, for a further two years. It then needs to make sure that its new BPS provider is in place for a transition period from one supplier to another of about a year. The cluster will also need to ensure it has a software provider in place that can provide everything needed for all four departments in the cluster.9
Government Response Summary
The government agrees with the committee's observation of risks and commits to assessing the feasibility of the Shared Services Strategy under various funding scenarios by November 2023. They have also secured a contract extension with SSCL until 2025 to ensure service continuity and are actively engaging HM Treasury regarding funding for the 2024 Spending Review.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
1.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: November 2023 1.2 Existing contingency planning has been undertaken through the intensive cluster shortlisting of options and counterfactuals. 1.3 As part of this recommendation central teams will assess the feasibility of delivering the Shared Services Strategy for Government (SSfG) within a number of different funding or political scenarios. 1.4 This work will then be used as a tool to assess the feasibility of the future business cases submitted by the Clusters. 1.5 Regarding ageing systems becoming unsupported, in April 2023, an extension with Shared Services Connected Ltd (SSCL) was negotiated on the Integrated Shared Service Centre 2 (ISSC2) contract which will ensure service continuity. 1.6 Integrated Shared Service Centre 2 (ISSC2) customer departments (covering around 200,000 full-time equivalents) require an extension with SSCL to bridge the gap between the current contract end date and the date they have new service arrangements in place. 1.7 The extension negotiated is limited to two years that is business as is, with no significant changes. This will see affected departments - the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), Environment Agency (EA), the Cabinet Office (CO), the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR), the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), Home Office (HO) and the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) having their service extended to October 2025. 3.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: November 2023 3.2 Communication is constant with HM Treasury in regard to how funding can be ensured in the 2024 Spending Review (SR24). 3.3 There is knowledge and experience within the funding space. Previously, for SR21 an extensive bidding process was completed with three clusters (Synergy, Matrix and Unity) which resulted in the programme being granted £300 million in reserve funding. Work then began on initial business cases which resulted in approval and each cluster being granted initial funding of £126.58 million which will allow the clusters to proceed through the final business case (FBC) stage. 3.4 Vitally, FBC’s will contain Strategy whole life costs; this will be beneficial in formulating SR24 bids. 3.5 Additionally, ongoing work on a benefits framework will enable us to qualify the full value for money that the Strategy will deliver which will assist in formulating SR24 bids.