Meg Hillier, chair of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), has published a report calling on the government to upgrade legacy IT, address specialist skills shortages and avoid repeating the same mistakes.
PAC's annual report emphasizes the need for major investment and decries the lack of forward thinking shown by the government regarding the current situation. In his report, Hillier warned that money intended for long-term projects was being used for day-to-day spending, creating systemic problems and leading to the need for further investment.
One of the areas that Hillier called the “big problem,” or the area that needs the most focus, is the government's “serious problems with aging IT systems.” Legacy IT issues are not specific to one department, but are found across government departments.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is struggling with 30% of its applications being so old that they are no longer supported by suppliers, while the Ministry of Defense (MoD)’s aging systems are It's complicating even everyday tasks like ordering boots,'' Hillier said.
The comments follow a January 2024 PAC report that highlighted concerns that the aging and fragmented IT used to manage DoD inventory is putting frontline forces at significant risk. It was issued.
The Ministry of Defense has been working to upgrade its inventory management system for the past 14 years, and in 2010 a project was launched to reduce the number of logistics support systems. Although the number of systems has been reduced from 250 to 89, challenges remain, especially when it comes to data.
The report also highlights the Department for Work and Pensions' (DWP) problems with outdated IT systems. Outdated IT systems have had a major impact on people's lives through the pension scandal, where pensioners were left £2.5 billion underpaid due to errors caused by outdated IT systems.
“These older systems lacked functionality, resulting in reliance on manual processes and the use of multiple systems to complete tasks. DWP failed to upgrade its systems and instead and increased complexity by layering new systems on top,” the report states.
“Governments need to find cost-effective ways to upgrade IT systems, especially given the high human and financial costs of errors.”
The cost of failing to upgrade legacy IT is significant, the report says, as the cost of simply maintaining the system is increasing and the loss of “relevant specialist skills” is unsustainable. Says.
This system appears unable to develop organized learning and memory
Meg Hillier, PAC Chair
“Across government, outdated IT systems and aging data are a major source of inefficiency and a major constraint to improving and modernizing government services. Many of these 'legacy' systems are Built a decade ago, it is now expensive to operate and carries risks,” the report said.
Mr Hillier said that, as a former government minister, he came to PAC with “the right knowledge” of how Whitehall works, how projects are created and how policy is delivered. . But during her time as chair, she added, the same mistakes were repeated over and over again and she observed “how the system is unable to develop organizational learning and memory.”
He said one of the issues was that the challenges facing the UK required long-term investment and planning and should not be “matters of political debate”, rather than focusing on short-term wins. , he said, should be dealt with over several decades.
“Slow politics is my term for programs that require a long-term view beyond one Congress and require long-term spending plans,” she said.
“Most large-scale infrastructure and defense programs fall into this category. Digital transformation in government is also an area that requires consistent funding, and since this is currently a resource rather than capital, protecting it Without a clear plan for this, departmental budgets are at risk of being cut.”
Mr Hillier also referred to the UK Courts and Tribunals' justice reform programme. The program, which started in 2016, was originally scheduled to be implemented by 2020. Despite several reschedulings, the program is still not complete, with only £120m of the £1.3bn remaining to be spent as of July 2023. budget.
“Appropriate technology and practices in the courts are critical to reducing backlogs and building a more resilient justice system that provides access to justice for the public,” the PAC report said. There is.
Mr Hillier also called for the government to address skills shortages to avoid major risks to the delivery of major projects. He said there were severe skills shortages in multiple areas including digital, cyber security and nuclear engineering, with £980m being spent on management consultancy fees in 2018/19 to close skills gaps across government. He said he was cured.
“Many projects and programs across government suffer from delays, inefficiencies, and budget overruns, often due to a lack of professional skills among officials,” the report said.
Hillier added that while PACs remain a “powerful tool to hold those in power accountable,” there is room for oversight within government. As systems become more complex and multifaceted, the job of vetting programs becomes more complex, she said.
“I believe there is a role for pre-scrutiny of projects, similar to pre-legislative scrutiny. Once plans for a large program are made available to the public, potential It will shed light on the benefits and pitfalls,” she said. “I proposed this to ministries, but the government was not keen on adopting it voluntarily.”
