Select committee: Public Services Committee
Recommendation 44
1st Report - A critical juncture for public services: lessons from COVID-19
Published 13 Nov 2020
Paragraph 201
Public Services Committee Public services: lessons from coronavirus All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
Central Government and local services should build on the advances made during the pandemic by prioritising funding for public sector digital services. The Government should put a particular focus on improving the digital skills of the public service workforce, and improving digital access and skills for those parts of the population that are at risk of digital exclusion.
From: Public Services Committee, 1st Report - A critical juncture for public services: lessons from COVID-19, paragraph 201, 13 November 2020
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 25 February 2021 (deadline 13 January 2021).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government's response sets out existing programmes and funding across health, education, children's services, social care and data-sharing, and gives dated commitments on only some recommendations, with others deferred 'in due course' or to a later decision.
- On the Outsourcing Playbook, the Cabinet Office "agrees with the Committee’s recommendation" and plans to launch the updated version in 2021.
- On adult social care reform, the government says it "will bring forward proposals this year", and notes that "a range of options are being considered".
- On the Prevention Green Paper and the successor to Public Health England, the government will "update on the response to the Prevention Green Paper in due course", and the National Institute for Health Protection's accountability arrangements will be published when it is formally established in Spring 2021.
- On the recommendations for a cross-agency strategy for vulnerable children, the government "notes the Committee’s comments" on the Troubled Families Programme and says it is "committed to extending it", with up to £165 million in 2021-22.