Recommendation 4

UKRI does not yet have the IT systems of a modern organisation. UKRI can classify its grants by theme, based on the award title and description and can produce one-off analyses of parts of its portfolio. For example, in 2024 it produced a review of its portfolio of spending on net zero and climate change. Since its establishment, UKRI has, however, grappled with unifying the separate data systems of its predecessor organisations. Despite developing modern IT systems being a priority for UKRI since 2019, the introduction of updated systems has been delayed. Around 15% of UKRI’s grants do not have a full description on its system, and in other cases the descriptions are poor quality and consequently spending on these grants cannot be accurately classified automatically. UKRI has the ambition to produce reliable analysis more quickly and use predictive insights to support better decision making and tracking of progress against its key objectives. It expects to have 90% of its data on its updated systems by January 2026. With all parts of Government, and industry, subject to large-scale assaults on their cyber security defences, it is also crucial that UKRI’s updated systems are resilient to cyber threats. recommendation UKRI should provide the Committee with an update in February 2026 on progress with implementing its systems and functionality and a roadmap of further modernisation. This update should include details of the capability the new systems provide and what capability is yet to be delivered.