Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 13
13
The pandemic has again highlighted the role of high-quality data in enabling effective service delivery,...
Conclusion
The pandemic has again highlighted the role of high-quality data in enabling effective service delivery, monitoring and improvement. For example, due to missing or inaccurate telephone numbers within NHS patient records, the shielding programme was unable to follow-up letters to 375,000 vulnerable people with phone calls. Local authorities, which were passed the details of individuals who could not be reached, struggled with inaccurate contact information. Difficulties sharing data also hindered local authorities’ ability to understand and manage outbreaks.29 We received written evidence from the British Medical Association, which told us that GPs and public health officials had been unable to receive timely, detailed information on tests conducted in privately-run sites despite government’s commitment to link data from privately run centres with patient medical records. It noted that this missing information limits the usefulness of the test results in understanding and managing outbreaks within a community, putting public health at severe risk.30
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
2: PAC conclusion: Government’s ability to make well-informed decisions and address issues as they arise during the pandemic has been hampered by slow progress in addressing longstanding issues with data and legacy IT. 2a: PAC recommendation: HM Treasury and the Cabinet Office should write to us by 31 October 2021 setting out how they plan to reflect the need to address data and IT issues when prioritising bids for the next spending review. 2.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Recommendation implemented 2.2 During this Spending Review, experts within the Central Digital and Data Office (part of the Cabinet Office) have worked with HM Treasury on a Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) bid assurance process. As part of this process, the Cabinet Office provided expert advice to HM Treasury on departmental bids with significant DDaT elements. Advice encompassed factors such as alignment to strategic priorities across the DDaT function as well as the feasibility of the bids. 2.3 This advice was provided in accordance with a standardised and agreed assessment framework shaped around critical digital and data priorities and took into consideration requirements around topics such as legacy IT, cyber security and automation. This specialist advice has helped to ensure critical priorities are funded. 2.4 This advice went into the Spending Round outcomes which made substantial provision for Digital Data & Technology, as set out in the Chancellor’s statement on 27 October and accompanying documentation, and with the additional detail being provided to the Treasury Select Committee this week. HMT departmental settlement conditions will reinforce priorities, and departmental performance will continue to be monitored through CDDO’s Quarterly Business Reviews.