Conclusion 3

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