Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 22
27th Report - Government’s relationship with digital technology suppliers
Published 6 Jun 2025
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee Government’s relationship with digital technology suppliers All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
The GCF accepted that the playbook needed to be enhanced and improved, and said that in doing so it would involve GDS. It explained that its aim was to ensure that the playbook was “really fit for purpose”, in terms of where government wanted to move forward in the digital landscape.36 GDS agreed that there were some areas that it would like to emphasise more, including: ensuring that there would be clear guidance on joint commercial and digital leadership for procurements; and describing how things should work across the lifetime of the relationship, not just up to the point of contracting. It also told us that it was considering including guidance about what departments should do when things go wrong, recognising that “no matter how well contracting is done, there are always problems”.37 It also said of the playbook “we want to hear from the people we are working with as well. It has to be something that works with both sides of the market. We will also consult widely with Departments and seek general commercial expertise from industry, as in industry buyers as well as industry vendors.” 38 Plans for digital commercial training
From: Public Accounts Committee, 27th Report - Government’s relationship with digital technology suppliers (HC 640), 6 June 2025
Government response
Latest Treasury Minutes progress report to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Twenty-seventh Report of Session 2024-26
The government responded to the whole report on 4 June 2026 (deadline 6 August 2025).
Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Twenty-seventh report from Session 2024-26
Published 18 September 2025.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government states that it "agrees with the Committee's recommendation" on each of the recommendations in the report, with most carrying a target implementation date of December 2025.
- On roles and responsibilities, it says the Digital Commercial Centre of Excellence (DCCoE) has been launched as a joint Cabinet Office and DSIT team and is "working to formalise the roles and responsibilities" between digital and commercial teams.
- On skills, it sets a three-phased approach for the Government Commercial Function: a first phase by September 2025, a second by March 2026, and a final phase "to be confirmed".
- On the Digital, Data and Technology Playbook, it says a team is working with GDS "to launch a publication in December 2025", bringing it up to date with current practices.
- On spending data, it says the GCF Digital & Data Team "will set out the process" to use commercial insights from data held across government, with "further detail" to be provided to the Committee in December.