Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 3
3
Accepted
Explain how Digital and AI Roadmap reforms will resolve public sector skills gaps.
Conclusion
There are persistent digital skills shortages in the public sector and DSIT’s plans to address the skills gap may not be enough. 70% of government bodies responding to the NAO’s survey identified difficulties in recruiting and retaining staff with AI skills as a barrier to AI adoption. In 2024, around 50% of roles advertised in civil service digital and data campaigns were unfilled. In January 2025, the government’s State of digital government review set out the skills challenge faced by government. These include persistent difficulties recruiting, civil service pay levels that are uncompetitive with the private sector and the need for more technical roles within the profession. Its Blueprint for modern digital government sets out a series of priority reforms including plans to adopt a digital–first operating model, assess the optimum employment models, strengthen digital leadership, and assess competitiveness of the overall package for digital and data staff. However, the Public Accounts Committee has repeatedly raised concerns about the digital skills gap in previous examinations of digital transformation in government and we remain sceptical that these reforms will address the issue where previous attempts have failed. 5 recommendation DSIT and Cabinet Office should write to the committee alongside publication of the Digital and AI Roadmap to: • explain how the planned reforms are expected to resolve the skills gap and by when, including how they will encourage the flow of digital skills between the private and public sectors, ensure digital leaders are more influential in decision making and embed a digital–first ethos into the civil service • explain how they will monitor and evaluate the reforms so they can take action swiftly if reforms are not successful, and • set out their plans for reporting progress publicly
Government Response Summary
The government is implementing reforms including requiring digital leaders on executive committees and boards by 2026, refining pay and capability frameworks, and developing talent pipelines, with monitoring through bi-annual reporting and public updates in the forthcoming Digital and AI Roadmap.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. taking active steps to implement reforms that address this challenge. To strengthen leadership and invest in talent, the government is introducing a requirement for all executive committees to include digital leaders and for boards to appoint digital non-executive directors by 2026. The role of the Government Chief Digital Officer has also been elevated to increase strategic influence over key decisions. Further action to attract, retain, and develop digital and data talent is being taken through the refinement of the Government Digital and Data Pay Framework and Capability Framework. To support long-term workforce planning, talent pipelines are being developed and cross-sector skills exchange encouraged through initiatives such as TechTrack, the AI Accelerator, and the Digital Secondments Programme. The impact of these initiatives will be monitored and evaluated through the Workforce Commission’s bi-annual reporting, the Senior Civil Service Benchmarking Tool, and ongoing workforce data collection. Transparency will be maintained through public reporting, including updates on digital leadership appointments, publication of Workforce Commission outputs (where appropriate), and the launch of major programmes such as TechTrack. Further detail on these measures will be set out in the forthcoming Government Digital and AI Roadmap.