A new assessment from MPs has identified a wide range of barriers facing ministers’ big plans for new technology and called on key departments to act swiftly to tackle challenges
Significant issues in areas including skills, legacy technology, and public trust mean that government faces an “uphill struggle” to deliver adoption of artificial intelligence across the public sector, the Public Accounts Committee has found.
The influential group of MPs has published its Use of AI in Government report, which flags up various challenges – and sets out urgent recommendations to address them.
The first of the report’s conclusions is that “out–of–date legacy technology and poor data quality and data–sharing is putting AI adoption in the public sector at risk”. PAC found that, of the 72 “highest-risk legacy systems” identified in the cross-government digital roadmap published three years ago, 21 have yet to be given funding to support upgrades.
Beyond these most risky platforms, the report adds that about 28% of all IT systems in use across government are currently considered legacy, under the current definitions set out by the Government Digital Service.
In order to combat this issue, MPs recommend that, in the next six months, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology provides details of funding for this remediation work, as well as creating a model for measuring the costs of ongoing use of legacy tech. New measures should also be introduced to “track funding allocated for remediation work and take action where progress is slow”. DSIT should meanwhile take steps to tackle the potential hindrance to AI adoption posed by “barriers to data–sharing and poor data quality”.
The second of the report’s conclusions is that “public trust is being jeopardised by slow progress on embedding transparency and establishing robust standards for AI adoption in the public sector”.
“A transformation of thinking in government at senior levels is required, and the best way for this to happen is for digital professionals to be brought round the top table in management and governing boards of every department and their agencies. I have serious concerns that DSIT does not have the authority over the rest of government to bring about the scale and pace of change that’s needed.”
PAC chair Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown
MPs noted that, in January 2025, only 33 public sector algorithmic transparency records had been published on GOV.UK – a figure which has since risen to 55. Central government departments are now required to publish such records and the committee recommends that that DSIT writes to MPs in six months’ time to provide an update on levels of compliance with this mandate. The department should also then offer details of “further action it is taking to tackle gaps in transparency to strengthen public trust, including to address public concerns over data privacy and the sharing of sensitive data”.
The third of committee’s main findings is that “there are persistent digital skills shortages in the public sector and DSIT’s plans to address the skills gap may not be enough”. MPs pointed to a recent National Audit Office survey which found that 70% of Whitehall entities “identified difficulties in recruiting and retaining staff with AI skills” – causing an obstacle to the rollout of AI.
Such difficulties are, in part, caused by a pay gap between the public and private sectors which translates to an extra £30,000 in salary per year for technical architects employed by commercial entities.
To address this, PAC asks that, when a new government-wide Digital and AI Roadmap is published this year, DSIT and the Cabinet Office should provide further detail to MPs on how the plan could help “resolve the skills gap and by when, including how [it] will encourage the flow of digital skills between the private and public sectors, ensure digital leaders are more influential in decision making and embed a digital–first ethos into the civil service” .
The report also asks the two departments to later this year “explain how they will monitor and evaluate the reforms so they can take action swiftly if reforms are not successful, and set out their plans for reporting progress publicly”.
Pilots and planning
MPs also found that “DSIT has no systematic mechanism for bringing together learning from [AI] pilots and there are few examples of successful at–scale adoption across government”. This is despite the NAO recently finding that seven in ten government entities are already piloting the use of AI, or planning to do so.
To help address this, it is recommended that DSIT should “set up a mechanism for systematically gathering and disseminating intelligence on pilots and their evaluation”. The department is also asked to offer detail on how it will “identify common and scalable AI products and support their development and roll–out at scale”.
The penultimate finding of the report is that there remains “a long way to go to strengthen government’s approach to digital procurement to ensure value for money and a thriving AI supplier market”.
GDS, which sits within DSIT, is currently working on a new sourcing framework for digital tools. Meanwhile the Crown Commercial Service, in the Cabinet Office, is expected to create a dedicated framework for AI products and services.
Once these have been created, the tech department and the Cabinet Office should publish information on how the framework will help “get the best from all suppliers in a market dominated by a small number of global technology companies and ensure opportunities are available for small suppliers”.
MPs also request detail on how the framework will “align with the overarching digital technology sourcing strategy… [and will] leverage government’s spending power to achieve value for money for citizens”. The two departments are further asked to “ensure those taking procurement decisions across government have access to the right digital skills and knowledge”.
21
Number of highest risk legacy systems identified in 2022 that still lack remediation funding
70%
Proportion of government agencies that are piloting AI or planning to do so
55
Number of algorithmic transparency records published to date
£30,000
Average annual pay gap between technical architects in the private and public sectors
The last of the report’s six overarching findings is that “realising the benefits of AI across the public sector will require strong leadership from DSIT”.
To demonstrate this leadership, the upcoming digital and data roadmap should set out “clear accountabilities at the centre, across government and the wider public sector”, as well as “delivery milestones to drive change and maintain momentum [and] metrics to track progress and spend over time, to identify whether further levers are needed to support implementation” of AI and other new technologies, MPs recommend.
For its part, the Cabinet Office “should consider the inclusion of a passage in each organisation’s annual report and accounts on their progress on digital and AI transformation”. The committee also states that the central department should explore whether to embed within each department a GDS representative “with digital and procurement skills”.
PAC chair Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown said that, while the “the potential for AI to secure widespread efficiencies is obvious… the need for digital improvements is a theme that will run through all our inquiries as through a stick of rock”.
“The government has said it wants to mainline AI into the veins of the nation, but our report raises questions over whether the public sector is ready for such a procedure,” he added. “The ambition to harness the potential of one of the most significant technological developments of modern times is of course to be welcomed. Unfortunately, those familiar with our committee’s past scrutiny of the government’s frankly sclerotic digital architecture will know that any promises of sudden transformation are for the birds.”
Clifton-Brown added “A transformation of thinking in government at senior levels is required, and the best way for this to happen is for digital professionals to be brought round the top table in management and governing boards of every department and their agencies. I have serious concerns that DSIT does not have the authority over the rest of government to bring about the scale and pace of change that’s needed. We hope the recommendations in our report aid the government in succeeding in bringing public sector systems into the 21st century for their users, where other efforts have failed.”
A government spokesperson said: “These findings reflect much of what we already know, which is why we set out a bold plan to overhaul the use of tech and AI across the public sector – from doubling the number of tech experts across Whitehall, to making reforms to replace legacy IT systems more quickly and building new tools to transform how people interact with the state. There’s a £45bn opportunity if we get AI right, which will help us deliver on our Plan for Change and drive up living standards across the country, and to support trust along the way, we’ve published over 55 records showing how we’re using algorithms – with more to follow in the coming weeks.”
