Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 2
2
There is no clear plan to replace or modernise legacy systems and data that are...
Conclusion
There is no clear plan to replace or modernise legacy systems and data that are critical to service provision but are often old, unsupportable, vulnerable and a constraint on transformation. Legacy systems, some of which date back to the 1970s, are widespread across government, which relies on them for important services such as managing the UK’s borders and paying the State Pension. Many of these systems are stable and performing acceptably at reasonable cost, but others are high-risk, unreliable, contain security vulnerabilities, or frustrate business transformation. Despite this, departments have a limited understanding of their legacy estate and the centre of government does not have an ongoing process for assessing and understanding what cross-government legacy risk looks like. The Central Digital and Data Office (CDDO) is now testing how it can gather information on departmental legacy systems. The CDDO hopes to prioritise where departments most need to take remedial action using a risk-based model and to roll this out more widely at the start of 2022. This is encouraging and we look forward to seeing the centre and departments take concrete action to begin to address high-risk legacy systems next year. Recommendation: At the start of 2022 the CDDO should work with departments to map legacy systems across government to document what is there, why it exists and how critical it is. By the end of 2022 the CDDO should use this to produce a pipeline of legacy systems they have prioritised with milestones for action. This pipeline should be shared with the Committee.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
2022. It should report against these metrics annually to enable Parliament and the public to determine what progress it is making towards meeting the objectives set out in the Government’s 25 Year Environment Plan. 2.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: January 2023 2.2 The government agrees with the Committee that it is important to have clear metrics for the reform programme and to publish progress updates about the operational effectiveness of schemes regularly. 2.3 The government has, since the Committee’s investigation in October 2021, published more information about its key aims for the schemes. 2.4 These interventions will support the long-term environmental targets that are being developed under the Environment Act 2021 and will be consulted upon soon. 2.5 The government will report annually on the delivery of targets within its statutory Environmental Improvement Plan, as required under the Act. This will include metrics about the performance and contribution of Environmental Land schemes.