Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 17
17
Not Addressed
Absence of Single Service Owners hinders understanding of end-to-end service costs.
Conclusion
It is difficult for departments to gain a full view of the end-to-end costs of a service where there is no Single Service Owner (SSO) with overall mandate and responsibility for the service concerned.41 This also weakens the incentives to identify and reduce costs overall, because the focus is on the individual component parts of a service rather than how they fit together as an overall whole.42 While we heard “quick wins” can give a sense of progress, more substantial benefits require a deeper understanding of a service and in some case, re-engineering of the service.43 There is an opportunity to learn from the methodology used by the Top 75 programme, which included industry benchmarks for segmented digital services.44 35 Q 149 36 Q 140 37 Qq 140, 150 38 C&AG’s Report, paras 1.6, 1.7 39 Qq 135, 136 40 Qq 137, 138 41 Q 143 42 Q 144 43 Q 111 44 Qq 87, 108 12
Government Response Summary
The government repeats the response from ID 2050, which does not address the specific observation of the committee.
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
4. PAC conclusion: The lack of Single Service Owners with accountability for all aspects of an end-to-end service inhibits departments’ ability to identify the visibility of a service’s end-to-end cost and the incentive to reduce it. 4. PAC recommendation: • The Cabinet Office should, within the next six months, require Permanent Secretaries to appoint Senior Single Service Owners for all remaining services identified by the Cabinet Office and the Government Digital Service which do not yet have one in place. • The Cabinet Office should set out a deadline by which Permanent Secretaries must complete the identification and appointment of SSOs for their remaining services. 4.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: March 2027 4.2 Assigning a Senior Service Owner (SSO) for all digital services is a valuable tool. 4.3 The Government Digital Service and the Cabinet Office will work together, issuing a letter encouraging Permanent Secretaries to complete an assessment of all SSO gaps within 6 months, maximum, and to appoint SSOs within 12 months, taking into account the technical feasibility of the data collection scale. The timescale will be accelerated if possible.