Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 25
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 ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
We questioned the departments on what benefits we would see from these departmental moves, and the Cabinet Office told us that the aim was, in part, to address the issues of accountability and complexity highlighted by the NAO report which it felt the changes had pretty comprehensively addressed.64 DSIT also explained how the changes were intended to bring together and align work on AI policy across the wider economy and AI adoption in the public sector (for example, by supporting the AI supplier market through public procurement, and setting public sector standards that can be adopted by the private sector on a voluntary basis).65 It is early days and we will be looking for more evidence that these changes will address the NAO’s concerns around complexity and accountability fully. 57 Q 8 58 Q 8 59 DSIT, A blueprint for modern digital government, January 2025, p 20 60 C&AG’s Report, para 10 and Figure 2 61 C&AG’s Report, para 9 62 DSIT press release, DSIT bolstered to better serve the British public through science and technology, 8 July 2024 63 Qq 1–2 64 Q 2 65 Qq 1–2, 4 17
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.