Thirty-Sixth Report - The Defence digital strategy — Select Committees

2 Accepted

Despite the urgency and ambition of its digital strategy, the Department does not yet have...

Recommendation

Despite the urgency and ambition of its digital strategy, the Department does not yet have a delivery plan to measure and track progress. The Department’s digital strategy sets out how it wants to share and exploit data effectively for information … Read more

Government Response Summary

The government agrees and will develop an integrated delivery plan underpinned by the Digital Strategy for Defence, aligned with the DX4D programme, with specific, tools-based metrics and measures building on portfolio management and transformation reporting.

HM Treasury

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3 Accepted

The Department faces a considerable challenge to recruit the specialist digital skills that its strategy...

Recommendation

The Department faces a considerable challenge to recruit the specialist digital skills that its strategy relies on. We have reported previously on the shortage of specialist digital skills in the marketplace and how many government departments are struggling to overcome … Read more

Government Response Summary

The government intends to implement the Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) and cyber pay framework. Under Project ACCELERATE, the department is implementing the plan to expedite elements of the recruitment process that it controls and will apply the digital recruitment approach to wider digital recruitments.

HM Treasury

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4 Accepted

The Department is struggling to deliver its largest, most transformational digital programmes.

Recommendation

The Department is struggling to deliver its largest, most transformational digital programmes. The Infrastructure and Projects Authority’s (IPA’s) most recent public reporting from March 2022 shows three of the Department’s major digital programmes have significant issues (‘amber’) and two are … Read more

Government Response Summary

The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation and will respond following the publication of the IPA report, noting the dependency on the Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) report availability.

HM Treasury

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5 Accepted

The Department’s budget is under considerable pressure, and this may make some planned, future digital...

Recommendation

The Department’s budget is under considerable pressure, and this may make some planned, future digital activity unaffordable. As inflation rises, the purchasing power of the Department’s existing budget falls. The Department is starting to see pressure build on its pay … Read more

Government Response Summary

The government agrees to provide an update on the impact to the implementation of the department’s Digital Strategy following the publication of the refreshed Integrated Review.

HM Treasury

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6 Accepted

The Department is not yet able to share and exploit data across the Armed Forces...

Recommendation

The Department is not yet able to share and exploit data across the Armed Forces and with partners effectively enough. Recent events including the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine show the importance of responding in a nationally and … Read more The Department is not yet able to share and exploit data across the Armed Forces and with partners effectively enough. Recent events including the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine show the importance of responding in a nationally and internationally integrated way. As the character of warfare changes, the Department needs to better integrate its operations and increase its partnering with other government departments, industry, academia and international allies. This was starkly illustrated by the Chief Information Officer admitting digital technology could be a limiting factor in the optional operation of Ajax and Morpheus. How the Department will update its digital systems fast enough so that the operational capacity of any pieces of equipment will not be hampered by the lack of digital systems remains unclear. It is making progress toward this by building a common architecture and set of rules that the whole Department must follow. This could support working more closely with partners and sharing data securely, including at higher security classifications. However, the Department has not yet catalogued all its data and adoption of these common standards is at an early stage. The Department also must work in hostile environments including, for example, at sea with limited connectivity, or where adversaries may be trying to undermine its security or effectiveness. The Department estimates that currently 80% of its effort is on the fundamental technology, people and processes it needs to share data effectively. By 2025, the Department wants 80% of its effort to be on exploiting this data for benefit. For example, the Department is starting to gather data on equipment and people automatically for military planners to better assess its readiness to respond. Recommendation: The Department should set out in its April 2023 update to the digital strategy, how it will measure its progress in creating the ‘backbone’ and track its balance of effort between data enabl Show less

Government Response Summary

The government agrees and states that delivering the Digital Backbone by 2025 is key, progress is being tracked and measured through the Strategy Delivery Plan, with dedicated resource in place to measure specific key performance indicators.

HM Treasury

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10 Accepted

We have reported previously that there is a large gap between the demand and supply...

Recommendation

We have reported previously that there is a large gap between the demand and supply of the digital specialists that government needs.24 We found that government is yet to make meaningful progress overcoming this long-standing challenge, which often leaves it … Read more

Government Response Summary

The department has established a dedicated talent acquisition team and intends to implement the Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) and cyber pay framework to help attract and retain talent, and are expediting elements of the recruitment process.

HM Treasury

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11 Accepted

However, the National Audit Office reported that the Department finds it difficult to recruit and...

Recommendation

However, the National Audit Office reported that the Department finds it difficult to recruit and retain digital specialist talent.31 We were interested in what is stopping the Department from getting the skills it needs; for example, its ability to pay … Read more

Government Response Summary

The department has established a dedicated talent acquisition team and intends to implement the Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) and cyber pay framework to help attract and retain talent, and are expediting elements of the recruitment process.

HM Treasury

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12 Accepted

We asked how the Department intends to perform better than the market, which it needs...

Recommendation

We asked how the Department intends to perform better than the market, which it needs to do if it is to overcome the lack of supply of digital specialists. The Department told us that it has focused heavily on its … Read more

Government Response Summary

The department has established a dedicated talent acquisition team to support digital recruitment and is implementing the Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) and cyber pay framework which will help attract and retain talent.

HM Treasury

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13 Accepted

One area where these resourcing challenges have become apparent is in Defence Digital’s track record...

Recommendation

One area where these resourcing challenges have become apparent is in Defence Digital’s track record of delivering major digital programmes. These are the Department’s most complex and transformational programmes, many of which are needed to replace older legacy systems, and … Read more

Government Response Summary

The government will update programme management policies and standards, upskill staff, and improve programme governance, targeting a summer 2023 implementation date, and notes the Next Generation Communication Network programme has improved.

HM Treasury

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16 Accepted

Similarly, the Department pointed out that where some programmes were rated red, there were elements...

Recommendation

Similarly, the Department pointed out that where some programmes were rated red, there were elements of good progress on sub-programmes within them. While the IPA rated the Department’s MODNet Evolve programme red, the Department told us that 16 of its … Read more

Government Response Summary

The government will update programme management policies and standards, upskill staff, and improve programme governance, targeting a summer 2023 implementation date, and notes the Next Generation Communication Network programme has improved.

HM Treasury

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18 Accepted

The NAO reported that the Department’s digital strategy was initially not fully funded, but the...

Recommendation

The NAO reported that the Department’s digital strategy was initially not fully funded, but the Department worked to identify ways to fund the strategy as well as reprioritise money to ensure that, as of its last budgeting cycle, it considered … Read more

Government Response Summary

Following the next update to the Integrated Review, the department will write to the committee explaining whether planned and actual spend on digital has changed and whether it has enough funding to deliver the strategy, targeting a Summer 2023 implementation date.

HM Treasury

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22 Accepted

The Department is working toward this by developing common standards, technology architecture and ways of...

Recommendation

The Department is working toward this by developing common standards, technology architecture and ways of working. The NAO reported that the Department has set up its governance and controls well, but ensuring compliance with these common standards and approaches across … Read more

Government Response Summary

The department is accelerating digital transformation through the Digital Exploitation for Defence (DX4D) programme and will track and measure progress through the Strategy Delivery Plan, with dedicated resource in place to measure specific key performance indicators.

HM Treasury

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Thirty-Sixth Report - The Defence digital strategy

Recommendations

Despite the urgency and ambition of its digital strategy, the Department does not yet have...

The Department faces a considerable challenge to recruit the specialist digital skills that its strategy...

The Department is struggling to deliver its largest, most transformational digital programmes.

The Department’s budget is under considerable pressure, and this may make some planned, future digital...

The Department is not yet able to share and exploit data across the Armed Forces...

We have reported previously that there is a large gap between the demand and supply...

However, the National Audit Office reported that the Department finds it difficult to recruit and...

We asked how the Department intends to perform better than the market, which it needs...

One area where these resourcing challenges have become apparent is in Defence Digital’s track record...

Similarly, the Department pointed out that where some programmes were rated red, there were elements...

The NAO reported that the Department’s digital strategy was initially not fully funded, but the...

The Department is working toward this by developing common standards, technology architecture and ways of...