The United Kingdom Government has launched a “dynamic” review of its ageing IT systems with the aim of identifying at-risk infrastructure so that it can prioritise spending.
Executive Director of the Central Digital and Data Office, Joanna Davinson told Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that she was currently running a pilot with three Departments.
She said a framework to assess legacy risk would be rolled out across all Whitehall Departments from January.
“This framework will enable us to get a clearer picture across Government and be more transparent, and help us, in conversations with funders such as Treasury, to put the right focus on getting the right investments into the legacy estate,” Ms Davinson said.
She acknowledged that the Government’s understanding of its own IT estate was not as “systematic as it should be” but hoped the new framework would resolve the problem.
The PAC hearing looked at the challenges in implementing digital change in Government and followed a scathing report from the National Audit Office (NAO) in July.
The NAO found that despite 11 different digital strategies in the last 25 years, the Government had consistently under-performed when delivering change.
In the same month, a report from the Digital Economy Council estimated that 50 per cent of the Government’s annual IT budget — around £2.3 billion ($A4.3 billion) was spent on maintenance and managing the data and cyber-security of obsolete legacy systems.
MPs on the committee echoed the NAO’s concerns over the lack of digital skills and understanding among senior Public Servants.
Permanent Secretary at the Cabinet Office, Alex Chisholm told the committee that there were 20,000 “digital specialists” out of 450,000 Public Servants.
Mr Chisholm conceded that there was a gap in expertise at the top of the Public Service, where key decisions were made on new digital projects and policy.
London, 5 October 2021
