Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 34
34
Accepted
Achieving AI benefits requires significant business practice changes and foundational investment in skills and data.
Conclusion
In our recent report on the use of AI in government we said: Artificial intelligence has the potential to transform public services by automating routine tasks, making public services quicker and more efficient, and making better use of government data to target support at those that need it. ….. Achieving large–scale benefits will require not only adoption of new technology but significant change in business practices, and will be dependent on government putting in place the right foundations, including access to skills, infrastructure and high–quality data.69
Government Response Summary
The government agrees with the potential of AI and details HMRC's extensive ongoing and planned initiatives, including piloting generative AI, launching new AI-powered compliance tools in 2025-26, and investing in staff capability and infrastructure, to enhance services and productivity.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
6.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Recommendation implemented 6.2 HMRC has written to the Committee alongside this Treasury Minute response. 6.3 HMRC is well positioned to take advantage of emerging technologies, particularly AI, to modernise operations, enhance customer experience, and improve productivity. With over two decades of experience applying AI in areas such as predictive analytics, risk assessment, and fraud detection, HMRC has embedded AI into core compliance and customer service functions. This includes tools like VAT Predictive Analytics, Bulk Data Exploitation Capability, and debt prediction models. 6.4 To further advance its AI ambition, HMRC is piloting several Generative AI initiatives: • A cross-government chatbot to improve navigation of HMRC guidance. • Copilot, trialled by thousands of staff, to enhance content summarisation, research, and search capabilities, with plans to scale significantly. • Call summarisation tools to streamline agent workflows and improve service delivery. 6.5 In 2025-26, HMRC will launch new AI-powered compliance tools and expand data-sharing collaborations (e.g. with the DWP). These efforts are supported by a secure Gen AI Landing Zone hosted in HMRC’s Cloud tenancy, enabling safe use of advanced models like GPT-4o 6.6 To ensure the right capability and capacity, HMRC has established an AI Board and delivery team, invested in training through the CDIO University and Digital Academy, and launched career development schemes to reskill staff into future-critical roles such as Cloud Engineers and Solution Architects.