Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 26
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)
The Departments told us that the departmental moves had been supported by a new digital inter–ministerial group (IMG) which provides greater focus and links the work with wider cross–government work on public service reform and the government’s missions.66 DSIT emphasised that this was about “about having multiple members of the Cabinet really focused on the change agenda for Government on digital services” and “a very significant step up in ministerial engagement on the digital transformation of government”.67 The Cabinet Office also observed that the IMG is providing improved strategy, prioritisation and join–up, “saying, ‘let us prioritise and set the strategy so that the sum of the parts delivers the greatest bang for the buck’”.68 When we questioned DSIT on how it would influence departments across government and deliver on its role to support AI adoption across the public sector, witnesses told us that clear political leadership and prioritisation was key to driving co–ordination across departments and enabling effective delivery.69
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.