Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 17
48th Report - Smarter delivery of public services
Published 22 Oct 2025
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee Smarter delivery of public services All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
We asked about how well connected ODP was to the private sector. The ODP told us that there were opportunities to learn from the private sector about how to innovate in the delivery of public services, and said its Senior Community of Practice events enable the ODP to draw on insights and challenge from private sector thought leaders.30 The Head of ODP also reflected on the value he had personally got out of a private sector secondment in terms of learning about different ways of working, as well as on the potential for more such interplay.31 23 Q 42 24 Qq 33, 39, 41 25 Qq 32, 37; C&AG’s Report, Figure 5 26 Qq 37, 42 27 Q 42 28 Qq 36, 42, 61, 63 29 Qq 32-33, 43 30 Q 54 31 Q 64 11 2 Improving government’s operational capability Building the right capabilities
From: Public Accounts Committee, 48th Report - Smarter delivery of public services (HC 889), 22 October 2025
Government response
Latest Treasury Minutes progress report to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Forty-eighth Report of Session 2024-26
The government responded to the whole report on 4 June 2026 (deadline 22 December 2025).
Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Forth-eighth report from Session 2024-26
Published 19 January 2026.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The Operational Delivery Profession states that it "agrees with the Committee's recommendation" on each of the six recommendations, giving target dates for four and describing two as already implemented.
- On external visibility, the Profession agrees and gives a target implementation date of September 2026; its annual business plan will include metrics on profile-raising, with the 2025-26 plan "due to be shared by August 2026".
- On joining up with local government and the private sector, the Profession agrees and describes the recommendation as "implemented", citing sharing of its Professional Skills Framework and Centre of Excellence access with the wider public sector.
- On monitoring capability, the Profession says initial measures "will be baselined by September 2026", while recognising "the inherent challenge of evidencing a direct causal relationship" between its activities and outcomes for citizens.
- On digital skills and AI, the Profession agrees, with a target date of December 2026, and says a workforce challenges study is "underway" to identify future skills needs in operational delivery.