Recommendation 17

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