Thirty-Sixth Report - The Defence digital strategy

Select Committee
Public Accounts Committee HC 727 3 February 2023
Report Status Government responded
Conclusions & Recommendations 23 items (17 recs)
Source View on Parliament website
Government Response (AI assessment · 23 of 23 classified)
Accepted 17
Acknowledged 4
Deferred 2
Government response
Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Thirty sixth report from Session 2022-23 · published 12 Apr 2023
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Recommendations & Conclusions

4 results
1 Conclusion Acknowledged
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence...
Conclusion
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from the Ministry of Defence (the Department) about the Defence digital strategy. The rapid advance of technology is changing the character of warfare, introducing a … Read more
Government Response Summary
The government acknowledges the committee's conclusion regarding the rapid advance of technology and its impact on warfare.
HM Treasury
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14 Recommendation Acknowledged
The NAO report identified that Defence Digital’s project delivery has suffered from a lack of...
Recommendation
The NAO report identified that Defence Digital’s project delivery has suffered from a lack of skilled and experienced personnel, immature project controls, and a culture focused on the approvals process rather than outcomes.42 The Department accepted that its performance up … Read more
Government Response Summary
The department already has key actions in place to improve its performance in delivering major digital programmes, including updating programme management policies, upskilling staff, and improving programme governance.
HM Treasury
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15 Recommendation Acknowledged
Nonetheless, we challenged the Department on its need to get better at stopping and improving...
Recommendation
Nonetheless, we challenged the Department on its need to get better at stopping and improving failing digital programmes.47 The Department stated it had recently paused its core networks programme to make changes to its design before going out to the … Read more
Government Response Summary
The department already has key actions in place to improve its performance in delivering major digital programmes, including updating programme management policies, upskilling staff, and improving programme governance.
HM Treasury
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23 Conclusion Acknowledged
We asked the Department what it was doing to work more closely domestically and with...
Conclusion
We asked the Department what it was doing to work more closely domestically and with international partners, such as NATO.76 The Department is creating shared architectures to help it work more closely and share data securely with other parts of … Read more
Government Response Summary
The government agrees with the Committee's (implied) recommendation, setting an April 2023 target, and describes its ongoing Digital Exploitation for Defence (DX4D) programme and delivery of the Digital Backbone by 2025 as means to accelerate digital transformation across Defence.
HM Treasury
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