Thirtieth Report - Challenges in implementing digital change

Select Committee
Public Accounts Committee HC 637 10 December 2021
Report Status Government responded
Conclusions & Recommendations 20 items (10 recs)
Source View on Parliament website
Government Response (AI assessment · 20 of 20 classified)
Accepted 10
Not Addressed 10
Government response
Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Thirtieth report from Session 2021-22 · published 1 Mar 2022
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Clear

Recommendations & Conclusions

10 results
2 Recommendation Not Addressed
There is no clear plan to replace or modernise legacy systems and data that are...
Recommendation
There is no clear plan to replace or modernise legacy systems and data that are critical to service provision but are often old, unsupportable, vulnerable and a constraint on transformation. Legacy systems, some of which date back to the 1970s, … Read more
Government Response Summary
Despite stating agreement with the recommendation to map and prioritise legacy IT systems and providing a target implementation date of January 2023, the government's subsequent explanation discusses environmental targets and the Environment Act 2021, which is entirely unrelated to the committee's recommendation.
HM Treasury
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3 Recommendation Not Addressed
Departments have failed to understand the difference between improving what currently exists and real digital...
Recommendation
Departments have failed to understand the difference between improving what currently exists and real digital transformation, meaning that they have missed opportunities to move to modern, efficient ways of working. The Cabinet Office concedes that too often operations and services … Read more
Government Response Summary
The government's response for this item quotes a different PAC conclusion regarding skills shortages, and does not address the committee's recommendation for a structured approach to distinguish between incremental and transformational digital changes.
HM Treasury
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4 Recommendation Not Addressed
Digital programmes often fail to have their own single programme office to support the programme...
Recommendation
Digital programmes often fail to have their own single programme office to support the programme director to align all aspects throughout the lifetime of the programme, including integration of legacy and future systems. Although the Cabinet Office has started to … Read more
Government Response Summary
The government's response quotes a different PAC conclusion regarding departments struggling to track benefits and costs, completely failing to address the recommendation for the Cabinet Office to develop guidance on legacy integration and mandate design/data controls.
HM Treasury
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5 Recommendation Not Addressed
Departments have failed to develop a modern professional approach to IT operations needed to support...
Recommendation
Departments have failed to develop a modern professional approach to IT operations needed to support business change and transformation and have created an over-reliance on outsourcing. Departmental IT functions are often not structured or funded in a way that allows … Read more
Government Response Summary
The government's response quotes a different PAC conclusion about government efficiency drives, and does not address the recommendation for the Central Digital and Data Office to outline improvements for departments' IT operations and change maturity.
HM Treasury
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6 Recommendation Not Addressed
There is a large gap between the demand for and supply of the digital specialists...
Recommendation
There is a large gap between the demand for and supply of the digital specialists that government needs, and it is hard to get the right balance of in-house and outsourced skills. Government has been excessively reliant on outsourcing and … Read more
Government Response Summary
The government's response did not address the recommendation for the Central Digital and Data Office to report on its capability strategy and progress metrics, instead restating a previous PAC conclusion.
HM Treasury
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1 Conclusion Not Addressed
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 Cabinet Office and HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) on the challenges in implementing digital change in government.1
Government Response Summary
The government's response quotes a different PAC conclusion about efficiency drives and cost shunting, and does not address the committee's introductory statement about the evidence session on digital change challenges.
HM Treasury
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7 Conclusion Not Addressed
Many of the systems government use are not really geared up to modern technology and...
Conclusion
Many of the systems government use are not really geared up to modern technology and some date back to the 1970s.14 The Cabinet Office told us that government is a difficult environment for digital projects, partly because these previous systems … Read more
Government Response Summary
The government's response directly addresses PAC recommendation #2 (regarding mapping and prioritising legacy IT systems) by agreeing, setting a target date of December 2022, detailing a £2.6 billion investment, and outlining plans for a common methodology for identifying legacy risk and remediation, which is not a direct response to conclusion #7.
HM Treasury
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10 Conclusion Not Addressed
The Cabinet Office concedes that too often operations and services fail to recognise the fundamental...
Conclusion
The Cabinet Office concedes that too often operations and services fail to recognise the fundamental inefficiencies of legacy systems and the data they contain.26 The National Audit Office reported that government has been trying to improve its digital performance for … Read more
Government Response Summary
The government's response directly addresses PAC recommendation #2 (regarding mapping and prioritising legacy IT systems) by agreeing, setting a target date of December 2022, detailing a £2.6 billion investment, and outlining plans for a common methodology for identifying legacy risk and remediation, which is not a direct response to conclusion #10.
HM Treasury
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17 Conclusion Not Addressed
Government accepts that it is important to have deep digital, data and technology expertise preserved...
Conclusion
Government accepts that it is important to have deep digital, data and technology expertise preserved within departments. Government has excessively outsourced programmes and has very thinly resourced the internal client function capability within departments. That has been a problem and … Read more
Government Response Summary
The government's response for this item addresses a different recommendation (PAC recommendation 5) regarding the DDaT Office setting out improvements for IT operations, rather than the provided conclusion on excessive outsourcing and thinly resourced internal capability.
HM Treasury
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20 Conclusion Not Addressed
The Cabinet Office accepted that government still has a capability problem and is not as...
Conclusion
The Cabinet Office accepted that government still has a capability problem and is not as sophisticated as it needs to be.52 There are not yet enough people with the depth 41 Qq 12, 73 42 Q 4, 73 43 Qq … Read more
Government Response Summary
The government's response addresses PAC recommendation #6 (regarding measuring progress against the DDaT Capability strategy) by agreeing to report metrics within six months, and outlining initiatives such as a 'single front door' for recruitment and a new digital training academy, which is not a direct response to conclusion #20.
HM Treasury
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