Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 4
18th Report - Use of AI in Government
Published 26 Mar 2025
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee Use of AI in Government All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
DSIT has no systematic mechanism for bringing together learning from pilots and there are few examples of successful at–scale adoption across government. At the time of the NAO report (March 2024), levels of AI use in government were low, but 70% of surveyed government bodies were piloting or planning AI tools. Examples of pilot activity include use of AI to analyse digital images to identify and classify objects, use of natural language processing to summarise or draft text, and use of AI to assess trends and patterns and monitor live data. More recently i.AI has developed a suite of tools to support civil servants with tasks including minute taking and analysis of consultation responses. However, there is so far little evidence of successful adoption at scale. To grasp the opportunities of AI, government must learn from these pilots, identify the most promising examples, and where appropriate, help drive adoption at scale so the whole of the public sector can take advantage. However, there is no systematic mechanism for bringing together the learning from all the pilot activity across government and disseminating it. We welcome the recent publication of the Evaluation Taskforce’s guidance for evaluating the impact of AI tools, and DSIT’s commitment to piloting an AI Knowledge Hub to bring together good practice and learning in one place. However, without concerted effort and leadership from DSIT, government risks duplication of effort and cost from siloed pilot activity. recommendation To learn from AI pilots and support the scaling of the most promising use cases DSIT should: a. set up a mechanism for systematically gathering and disseminating intelligence on pilots and their evaluation b. Set out how it will identify common and scalable AI products and support their development and roll–out at scale 6
From: Public Accounts Committee, 18th Report - Use of AI in Government (HC 356), 26 March 2025
Government response
Latest Treasury Minutes progress report to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Eighteenth Report of Session 2024-26
The government responded to the whole report on 4 June 2026.
Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Eighteenth report from Session 2024-26
Published 18 September 2025.
Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Eighteenth report from Session 2024-25
Published 10 July 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 each of the Committee's recommendations, setting target implementation dates between October 2025 and June 2026.
- On legacy technology, it agrees and says GDS will define "consistent metrics and methods" to measure the ongoing costs of legacy systems and the estimated cost of failing to remediate or replace them, with a target date of January 2026.
- On transparency, it is "aiming to publish" Algorithmic Transparency Recording Standard records for all currently identified in-scope tools in government departments (not including arm's-length bodies) "by the end of 2025".
- On digital skills, it agrees and says all executive committees will be required to include digital leaders and boards to appoint digital non-executive directors "by 2026", with further detail in the forthcoming Government Digital and AI Roadmap.
- On scaling AI pilots, it agrees and says a proposal is "currently being developed" in the Public Sector AI Adoption programme, with a target implementation date of May 2026.