As of the start of this month, the centralised process through which expert evaluators formally greenlight departmental project plans has been discontinued and superseded by a model offering greater autonomy
Government’s long-standing spending control framework for digital and technology projects has been formally retired and replaced by an assurance model in which departments will effectively “fully own and manage their own approvals processes”.
From 1 April onwards, the Digital and technology spend controls – overseen by the Government Digital Service – have been discontinued, after 16 years in operation. The guidance has been replaced with the Digital Assurance Playbook which, according to the document’s homepage on GOV.UK, provides “a more devolved approach, giving departments and organisations greater ownership of their assurance and approvals processes”.
Under the outgoing model, any departmental spending of £100,000 or more on a digital public service required GDS approval. All other planned digital and tech investment of more than £1m was also subject to the controls, as was any spending whatsoever on crypt-key technology.
In terms set out in the sixth and most recent version of the controls, a series of green lights were required to progress through various incremental stages of tech programmes – beginning with approval for an outline business case, through to sign-offs for procurement exercises and contract awards, and onto delivery of each individual project stage: discovery; alpha; and beta.
The new playbook is intended to introduce a model where approval is not the sole responsibility of a central expert body but, rather, that “decisions should be delegated to those closest to delivery” and that “approval of decisions should typically be done once and done well, by those accountable for those decisions”.
While the controls are being removed, departments will still be asked to maintain a pipeline of planned projects and spending – which will now be monitored by HM Treasury. The pipeline model was first introduced as part of a major revamp of the controls in 2018.
But, with the introduction of the new playbook, the threshold at which programmes must be included in the pipeline is being raised significantly – to £5m.
Alongside this, each organisation in scope of the playbook will also have its own delegated authority limit (DAL) for spending set by the Treasury – beneath which departments can undertake their own approval and assurance processes. But, above this limit, GDS and the Treasury will still work with the department to manage and approve bigger projects.
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Even for projects that do not meet a department’s DAL benchmark, the Treasury “will work with organisation assurers to identify those that need GDS support”.
Details of departmental DALs have not yet been provided.
Under the new assurance framework, it is asked that departmental “delivery professionals add their planned initiative to the pipeline at the earliest sensible time… [using] their own processes or checkpoints to define when this happens”.
The playbook adds: “Depending on the level of risk and spend, the initiative [then] receives continuous support and challenge from the central digital assurance function in GDS and/or the organisation’s own digital assurers.”
Once the project has reached a “live or steady state”, GDS will provide ongoing monitoring, in line with government’s Digital Performance Framework.
The changes to the controls model is based on the findings of a report published late last year by Treasury advisory body the Office for Value for Money.
“The fundamental objective of reforming the current system is to create a framework that achieves better outcomes for better value – driving value for money and enabling the public sector to deliver the government’s priorities efficiently and effectively,” that report says. “The current system of public spending control and accountability is guided by a complex set of rules and behaviours. This reflects both major reforms and incremental changes that have been made by successive governments over recent years, to address ministerial priorities or risks of the day. No system as complex as this one can remain fit-for-purpose forever, and periodic reviews are necessary to ensure the whole system is as efficient as possible. The OVfM’s review revealed significant scope to remove duplication of controls and strengthen accountability, to deliver more effective and efficient spending control, while freeing up capacity to focus on delivery of citizens’ priorities.”
Alongside the retirement of the Digital and technology spend controls, formal expert approvals in all other specialist areas have also been discontinued – with the exception of the Advertising, marketing and communications controls, which remain in place.
But the central controls for spending on commercial activities, property, facilities management, redundancy and compensation, and learning and development have now all been removed, and replaced with a lighter-touch assurance model.
