Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 20
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 how the ODP will know if this approach has been successful. The ODP told us that while it believed that investing in capability would deliver better customer service, and that customer satisfaction is a good measure, demonstrating causality was more challenging. The ODP is looking at developing metrics that would enable it to make a connection between its interventions and service outcomes, but it says that they are still some way off achieving that.38 32 C&AG’s Report, para 7 33 Q 7; National Audit Office, Improving services - understanding and managing demand, February 2023, p 1 34 Q 56; National Audit Office, Improving services - systematic improvement, February 2023, p 1 35 Q 30; C&AG, Lessons learned: a planning and spending framework that enables long-term value for money, October 2024, para 2.4 36 Q 49 37 Q 58; C&AG’s Report, Figure 5 38 Qq 48-49, 52-53, 60 12
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.