Recommendation 16

The Department acknowledged that it has faced strong competition for people with the scarce technical skills required to deliver the programme, including from other government departments. The Department has now designed framework contracts with outside suppliers so that it is the responsibility of the suppliers to provide the right people with the right skills to support the programme.31 To support its skills base the programme has building the working relationship between the Department’s Digital, Data and Technology team and Border Force. The Department stated that this has improved the balance between the technical experts who understand the necessary system requirements and frontline staff who understand the user perspective. The Department is also attempting to improve civil service skills for the long-term.32 27 Qq 39, 40 28 Q 89 29 Q 59; C&AG’s Report, Digital Services at the Border Figure 12 30 Q 59; C&AG’s Report, Digital Services at the Border para 3.8 31 Q 66 32 Qq 66, 74 Digital Services at the Border 13 3 Delivering the reset programme The risk of late delivery