Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 17
17
Accepted
We asked how gaps in digital skills affected Defra and the regulators.
Conclusion
We asked how gaps in digital skills affected Defra and the regulators. Defra told us it has the skills at a senior level, with a Chief Digital Information Officer, along with a non-executive board member possessing expertise in digital skills.42 More generally across the organisation, Defra told us that digital and data skills had historically been lacking and are always needed. It needs both the specialist digital 36 Q 71. The Spending Review 2025 includes departmental budgets for day-to-day spending until 2028–29 and capital investment until 2029–30 37 Q 75 38 Q 71 39 Q 26 40 C&AG’s Report, para 2.23 41 Q 73 42 Q 72 13 skills in its centralised IT service and also the digital literacy skills across the workforce. Defra told us in recent years it had significantly reduced its reliance on agency IT staff from around 25% to around 3% of all IT staff.43 43 Q 85 14 2 Supporting nature and growth Waste regulation
Government response summary AI-generated
The government agrees and states the recommendation is implemented, noting Natural England has assigned a Chief Officer for Digital and Data, and the Environment Agency has a Director of Service Transformation, fulfilling similar roles within Defra Group's federated model.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government · verbatim extract
Accepted
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Recommendation implemented. Natural England has assigned a Chief Officer with responsibility for Digital and Data who is leading further development of Natural England's digital and data capability and capacity in collaboration with the Digital Data Technology Security (DDTS) corporate service in Defra. At present, the Environment Agency Director of Service Transformation, who reports into the Executive Director of Strategy Transformation and Assurance, fulfils this role; being accountable (along with DDTS) for the management of the Environment Agency’s technical and digital estate, service modernisation, strategic change management and the Chief Data Office capability (CDO). Defra Group operate a federated model, along with other Corporate Service activity, with DDTS services delivered centrally on behalf of Defra and its ALBs. This includes the Environment Agency, Natural England, Rural Payments Agency, Marine Management Organisation and the Animal and Plant Health Agency.
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