Committee publication · Correspondence · 12 March 2025
Correspondence from Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, in relation to the Digital centre for government, dated 3 March 2025
From: Science, Innovation and Technology Committee
Inquiry: Digital centre of government
Summary
Feryal Clark MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, writes to the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee outlining the government's rationale for establishing a new digital centre of government. She cites a State of Digital Government review identifying fragmentation, data silos, and insufficient skilled workforce as systemic barriers, and describes the reformed Government Digital Service and Blueprint for Modern Digital Government as addressing these challenges.
Key findings
- The State of Digital Government review found UK public sector digital services fall short of public expectations and lack cross-institutional integration
- Current digital transformation approach is fragmented with siloed data and insufficient skilled workforce capacity
- The government has established a reformed Government Digital Service and published A Blueprint for Modern Digital Government with a six-point plan
- The six-point plan spans joining up public sector services and increasing transparency and accountability
- The government framed the digital centre launch as essential to addressing systemic challenges and delivering government missions
Tone
ProceduralTopics
Key actors
Feryal Clark MP, Chi Onwurah MP, Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, Government Digital Service (GDS), Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
Notable line
“The current paradigm of digital transformation is not working: we have a fragmented technology landscape where data is siloed …”
Key Quotes
“The current paradigm of digital transformation is not working: we have a fragmented technology landscape where data is siloed, and a digital workforce that does not have enough skilled people to sustain and transform it.”
“We're still a long way from building a truly digital state - one where services work across institutional boundaries and provide a time-saving, personalised user experience.”
“There is much work to do to deliver a modern digital government for Britain.”
Source · parliament.uk record ↗