Tackling Defra’s ageing digital services

Public Accounts Committee Closed Inquiry
Opened: 28 Nov 2022 Closed: 21 Jul 2023 Parliament page
The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) has one of the largest spending allocations across government for updating its ‘legacy’ services that use old technology or no longer meet business needs. Defra’s problems with legacy services have built up over the years, with most now either no longer … Read more
8 Recommendations
17 Conclusions
1 Report
1 Oral session
1 Letter
1 Event
Activity timeline 5 events
21 Jul
2023
Report published
10 May
2023
Report published
7 Feb
2023
Correspondence
19 Jan
2023
Oral evidence
19 Jan
2023
Formal meeting (oral evidence session) · The Grimond Room, Portcullis House
Oral evidence sessions 1 session
19 Jan 2023
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Tackling Defra’s ageing digital services
Chris Howes · Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Malcolm McKee · Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Paul Willmott · Cabinet Office Tamara Finkelstein CB · Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Title HC No. Published Items Response
Fifty-First Report - Tackling Defra’s ageing digital services HC 737 10 May 2023 25 Responded
Recommendations & Conclusions
1 result
Clear
21 Conclusion Deferred
Fifty-First Report - Tackling Defr…
Defra's digital investment funding is inadequate for comprehensive legacy service transformation.
In the 2021 Spending Review, Defra received £871 million for digital investment for 2021–2025, of which £366 million was to address legacy issues and bring its systems up to date. The remainder was for investment in the Future Farming and … Read more
Government Response
The government agrees with the conclusion, acknowledging budget pressures and stating that CDDO will support departments in prioritising efforts. Defra will conduct an analysis of its service landscape to determine investment priorities ahead of the SR24 bidding process and will inform the Committee of its findings and planned actions.
HM Treasury
View details
Government Response AI assessment · 25 of 8 classified
Accepted 24
Deferred 1
Total 8 recs + 17 conclusions
Correspondence 1 letter
7 Feb 2023 Correspondence from Tamara Finkelstein CB, Permanent Secretary, The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, re Public Accounts Committee – Tackling Defra’s ageing digital services, dated 31 January 2023
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