Civil service chief operating officer Cat Little provides update to Public Accounts Committee outlining how government’s core tech unit will help inform and direct investment plans for the coming years

The Government Digital Service will play a “bespoke role” in supporting HM Treasury in leading the upcoming Spending Review, including advising on whether departments’ technology programmes should be delivered in-house or by outsourced providers.

GDS’s support for the departmental budgeting exercise is intended “to deliver better funding decisions that drive efficiency and delivery of a modern digital government”, according to civil service chief operating officer Cat Little.

In a letter to parliament’s Public Accounts Committee – that serves as a follow-up to a recent oral evidence – the Whitehall operations chief added that the remit of the digital unit in supporting the spending review will be to “provide HM Treasury with advice and assurance on digital and technology spend”.

Of particular focus will be offering guidance on delivery of proposed schemes and investments, and whether projects would be best served by in-house or external models.

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“GDS has worked across government to develop assessment criteria that include considering how departments are resourcing and delivering digital and technology programmes,” Little wrote. “This includes identifying where programmes could be delivered more efficiently through outsourcing, for example commodity IT services that are being delivered in-house that could be delivered more cost effectively by suppliers, or conversely insourcing work where it is better done in-house. This review is based on high-level principles that will be built into the future sourcing strategy.”

The strategy in question is currently being developed by GDS and is intended to provide permanent guidance for departments on how to assess the relative merits of building digital platforms internally and buying existing products from the market.

Little – who, in addition to the COO post, also serves as permanent secretary of the Cabinet Office – said: “A small team of digital and commercial staff is already developing the structure, outline and proposed content for the sourcing strategy. Over the coming months, these will be further refined and tested through engagement with both public and private sector stakeholders. We will take an iterative approach to releasing elements of the strategy, including key principles, to support departmental planning after SR settlements have been announced. We will continue to evolve the document over the summer, building on feedback and demand for specific guidance from both customers and suppliers.”