21
Defra's digital investment funding is inadequate for comprehensive legacy service transformation.
Conclusion
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 Countryside and borders and trade programmes which were needed to support EU Exit as well as flood- related IT.45 Defra received 58% of the funding it bid for in the 2021 Spending Review. According to Defra, this was sufficient funding to resolve some major operational and cyber risks and automation, but not enough to fund a broader digital transformation of all legacy services. For example, it aims to digitise all of its 20 most used services but none of this work is yet funded. Defra had to prioritise its activities to determine what it could deliver with this money.46
Government Response
A response document is linked to this report, dated 21 July 2023. Response attribution to this conclusion has not been verified. Read the response document.
Source
Committee
Public Accounts Committee
Report
Fifty-First Report - Tackling Defra’s ageing digital services
10 May 2023
HC 737
Addressee Bodies
HM Treasury
Timeline
Recommendation age
3.3 yrs
Report published
10 May 2023