Speeches made during Parliamentary debates are recorded in Hansard. For ease of browsing we have grouped debates into individual, departmental and legislative categories.
These initiatives were driven by Lord Agnew of Oulton, and are more likely to reflect personal policy preferences.
A Bill to make provision about the meaning of references to Article 23A benchmarks in contracts and other arrangements; and to make provision about the liability of administrators of Article 23A benchmarks
This Bill received Royal Assent on 15th December 2021 and was enacted into law.
A Bill to make provision imposing a tax (to be known as the health and social care levy), the proceeds of which are payable to the Secretary of State towards the cost of health care and social care, on amounts in respect of which national insurance contributions are, or would be if no restriction by reference to pensionable age were applicable, payable; and for connected purposes.
This Bill received Royal Assent on 20th October 2021 and was enacted into law.
A Bill to authorise the use of resources for the years ending with 31 March 2019, 31 March 2020, 31 March 2021 and 31 March 2022; to authorise the issue of sums out of the Consolidated Fund for the years ending 31 March 2020, 31 March 2021 and 31 March 2022; and to appropriate the supply authorised by this Act for the years ending with 31 March 2019, 31 March 2020 and 31 March 2021.
This Bill received Royal Assent on 15th March 2021 and was enacted into law.
Lord Agnew of Oulton has not co-sponsored any Bills in the current parliamentary sitting
For 2024/2025, the Cabinet Office has now received 12 business cases. Of these, four have been approved to date, one has been rejected, and seven are ongoing.
The Government remains committed to ensuring that the Civil Service Compensation Scheme is fair to individuals and delivers best value for money for the taxpayer.
We are reviewing the consultation launched under the previous administration on reforms to the Civil Service Compensation Scheme, and will provide an update in due course.
As committed to in the Civil Service People Plan, an Annual Review has been conducted to monitor its progress and to ensure effective delivery. We intend to publish the key findings of the review in due course.
Quarterly progress reports are also provided to the Cabinet Secretary and to the Civil Service People Board to ensure senior level oversight and scrutiny.
We are taking steps to ensure the Plan remains aligned to the government’s priorities and meets the evolving needs of the Civil Service.
The financial restatements of the Government Property Agency Accounts 2022/23 resulted in both an increase and a decrease in right of use assets because they related to two separate changes to lease terms for different properties at different stages of their lease lifecycle.
The surrender and grant of a new head lease in July 2022 related to a vacant property undergoing major refurbishment as part of the GPA’s Whitehall Campus Programme. The new head lease resulted in an increase to right of use assets because there was no corresponding finance sub-lease during the refurbishment. The GPA therefore retained all the risks and rewards incidental to ownership of the right of use asset.
The Deed of Variation in March 2023 to extend a sub-lease term by 12 years to align with the head lease resulted in the classification of the sub-lease being reassessed as a finance lease rather than an operating lease. This was because the sub-lease term now represented in excess of 75% of the expected useful economic life of the underlying right of use asset. The reclassification resulted in a decrease in right of use assets because the GPA derecognised the asset previously retained when the sub-lease was classified as an operating lease.
On that basis, we are satisfied that IFRS 16 has been applied appropriately across the head lease and sub-lease transactions.
The original Emergency Planning College Bidders’ Brief makes multiple references to international training and overseas markets and was subsequently covered within the initial contract.
The change within the deed of variation to amend the UK-only constraint was necessary to clarify that international training may require the delivery of face-to-face training at overseas locations, in order to fully meet the contractual requirements for international training.
The UK-only constraint continues to apply to services provided to the Authority under the contract.
Many intermediary procurement models are straightforward public contracts where there is no requirement to publish subcontracts under either the Procurement Act 2023 or the Public Contract Regulations 2015.
Where contracting authorities are awarding contracts using frameworks awarded under the Procurement Act 2023, they will need to follow the Act’s noticing provisions. In the case of most Public Contracts this will normally include publication of both a Contract Award and then a Contract Details Notice on the Find a Tender platform, which is the publicly available portal for all transparency information on procurement. Furthermore, notices contain linking information that allows notices to be connected- enabling detailed data analysis on how frameworks are being used. All this information on public procurement is in the public domain and can be searched by the citizen, free of charge in an accessible way.
Where contracting authorities are awarding contracts using framework agreements awarded under the previous procurement regime, they are required to publish an Awarded Opportunity Notice on the Contracts Finder platform.
In accordance with section 10 of the Procurement Act 2023 ("the Act"), the Procurement Review Unit (“PRU”) only has oversight of the activities of contracting authorities under the Act.
Any procurement carried out under framework agreements managed under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 does not fall within the remit of the PRU.
Departments are responsible for their own SAMPs, and required to update these plans yearly. Guidance and tools are provided to ensure consistency and effectiveness.
In the event an updated asset plan is not produced,the Government Chief Property Officer can write to the Principal Accounting Officer alerting them to the requirement.
Last year, all ministerial departments produced an updated asset plan except the Department for Business & Trade (DBT), although plans for the offices occupied by DBT were set out in the Government Property Agency’s office portfolio SAMP. DBT will produce a plan for 2025.
By agreement, HM Treasury and Department for Education did not produce a 'stand alone' departmental asset plan but featured in the Government Property Agency's office portfolio SAMP as onboarded clients.
The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. The Infrastructure and Projects Authority publishes details on the estimated budgets and delivery timescales for each of the Government Major Projects Portfolio projects as part of its annual report, from which the change in cost and schedule between years for individual projects can be calculated.
Currently no departments have implemented the Central Employee Identifier. We will provide an update on implementation timescales in due course.
Regulation 80 (4) of the draft Infected Blood Compensation Scheme Regulations 2025 sets out that for where an overpayment of compensation is made by the Infected Blood Compensation Authority, the excess amount is recoverable as a civil debt. IBCA does not have any bespoke powers to prosecute suspected fraudulent claims, but will have the same tools as other public bodies to take action against fraudulent activity. The Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill, introduced to Parliament on 22 January 2025, proposes new powers granted to the Public Sector Fraud Authority, to be used upon referral of a case from a public body. This meets the Government’s commitment for the better recovery of money owed to the taxpayer where public money has been stolen or overpaid.
The (draft) Infected Blood Compensation Scheme Regulations 2025 do not confer any criminal investigatory powers on the Infected Blood Compensation Authority (IBCA). However, a small team is being established to intervene where there are suspicious circumstances relating to a particular case, and IBCA will keep the size of that team under review.
The Infected Blood Compensation Authority (IBCA) has worked closely with the Public Sector Fraud Authority to undertake comprehensive Fraud Risk Assessments for the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme. This will continue to be a key part of IBCA’s planning approach as it builds and expands its claims service.
There is no memorandum of understanding between the Infected Blood Compensation Authority (IBCA) and HMRC in place. However, the Cabinet Office worked closely with HMRC in the development of the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme, and HMRC passed regulations to exempt compensation payments from tax, as is standard for compensation schemes. The Government expects IBCA to continue to work closely with HMRC as required for the delivery of the scheme.
The Deed of Variation to contract 2887470\5, enables the transition of the Emergency Planning College (EPC) to the UK Resilience Academy from 15 April 2025 to deliver strategic national resilience training and exercising outcomes.
Given the complexities of the contract covering the management of the physical site, coupled with the provision of training services, the Authority determined that a medium-term permitted extension would allow for better development and planning for a new competitive procurement opportunity, whilst maintaining continuity of key services.
The contract provides for an extension of not less than 2-years and not more than 5-years, and does not include any financial values or thresholds. The extension does not change the economic balance of the Agreement in favour of the Contractor. International sales were covered within the Bidders' Brief as part of the original tender and subsequently the contract.
The Government is determined to ensure the £400 billion of public money spent on public procurement annually delivers economic growth, supports small businesses, champions innovation, and creates good jobs and opportunities across the country.
On 13 February the Government published a National Procurement Policy Statement (NPPS), which sets out our priorities for public procurement and maximises the impact of every pound spent. New measures to support the transformation of public procurement and to deliver on the Government’s Plan for Small Businesses includes requiring all government departments, executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies to set three-year targets for direct spend with SMEs (from 1 April 2025) and VCSEs (from 1 April 2026) and publish progress annually.
On 13 February the Government published a National Procurement Policy Statement (NPPS), which sets out our priorities for public procurement and maximises the impact of every pound spent. New measures to support the transformation of public procurement and to deliver on the Government’s Plan for Small Businesses includes requiring all government departments, executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies to set three-year targets for direct spend with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from 1 April 2025, and Voluntary, Community, and Social Enterprises (VCSEs) from 1 April 2026, and publish progress annually.
Under this new policy, departments will be responsible for publishing their own spend with SMEs on an annual basis. Departmental SME Action Plans (published from 1 April 2025) will include SME spend targets approved by departmental Ministers and any previous financial years unpublished SME spend data.
HM Treasury (HMT) and the Office for National Statistics (ONS) initiated a formal review of the sector classification in 2024 of CCS as part of their ongoing programme of assessments of the statistical and financial reporting classification of public sector bodies in the National Accounts. The ONS completed the final review in October 2024 and published the outcome on its website. It concluded that CCS’s existing sector classification as a public corporation is correct. This means that CCS will remain a Trading Fund.
Customers who have used CCS agreements in FY2022/23 were eligible to receive a payment in proportion to the amount of income collected by CCS from suppliers as result of those customers’ transactions.
Activity by customers on 231 frameworks has contributed to the distribution to individual customers, with the lowest value payment threshold being set at £1k, resulting in just under 1,500 customers being eligible to receive a payment. These payments are not part of any written agreement and are non-contractual.
CCS has not made an assessment of the administrative costs that have been, or will be, incurred in operating this scheme.
CCS is considering its opportunities to reduce its levy rates on a case by case basis as new agreements are put in place. Frameworks do not provide a level of committed spend and therefore reducing levy rates across the board would incur an unnecessary degree of risk into CCS’s financial planning. CCS’s levy rates are the lowest of all Public Sector Buying Organisations, at an average of 0.7% across the whole portfolio.
The reclassification of the sub-lease from an operating lease to a finance lease arose due to a correction in a sub-lease extension which was identified during 2023/24.
A lease end extension that was agreed by both parties in February 2023 was not clearly documented in the Deed of Variation, resulting in GPA’s Horizon system incorrectly recording the lease end date as 2033. As a result, this was accounted for as an operating lease as at March 2023.
The error in the lease end date was identified during 2023/24 when the Deed of Variation needed updating for occupancy and rent setting changes. At this point, the Horizon system was updated to reflect the correct lease end date of 2045. Correcting the lease end date changed the classification from an operating lease to a finance lease.
GPA has strengthened its control processes as a result of identifying this error. Unambiguous data tables are now attached to each occupancy agreement and signed off by both Property and Finance teams to: prevent future misinterpretation of lease terms, ensure the accurate uploading of lease data onto the Horizon system, and ensure that the accounting for leases accurately reflects the agreed lease terms.
The Procurement Act, which comes into force on 24 February 2025, will allow the Government to investigate high-risk suppliers on behalf of the entire public sector.
International debarment lists can be considered as part of a debarment investigation that determines whether an exclusion ground applies and enables a Minister of the Crown to decide whether the supplier should be placed on the debarment list.
A live debarment investigation does not prevent a supplier from bidding for public contracts or provide a basis for any further regulatory or legal action against the supplier.
The Procurement Act, which comes into force on 24 February 2025, will allow the Government to investigate high-risk suppliers on behalf of the entire public sector.
International debarment lists can be considered as part of a debarment investigation that determines whether an exclusion ground applies and enables a Minister of the Crown to decide whether the supplier should be placed on the debarment list.
A live debarment investigation does not prevent a supplier from bidding for public contracts or provide a basis for any further regulatory or legal action against the supplier.
In accordance with Part 10, the results of any investigations, including any s.109 recommendations and progress reports submitted by the contracting authority may be published, assessed on a case by case basis. Such documents will be published on GOV.UK. Any s.109 recommendations will be issued to support the contracting authority’s compliance with the requirements of the Act and follow a lessons learned approach in order for contracting authorities to reflect on their own approach to compliance and identify areas for improvement.
The Procurement Review Unit (PRU) has been established to exercise the procurement oversight powers set out in Part 10 of the Procurement Act 2023 (the Act). Part 10 comprises three provisions (sections 108-110) which provide for the investigation of a contracting authority’s compliance with the requirements of the Act, the issuing of recommendations to a contracting authority following an investigation and the publishing of statutory guidance to all contracting authorities.
Under section 108 (procurement investigations) the PRU can formally request, via notice, that a relevant contracting authority provide documents and give assistance in connection with the investigation, as is reasonable. The contracting authority has 30 days to comply with the notice.
The conducting of on-site visits to aid investigations may fall under the scope of “give assistance” and would be by mutual agreement between the PRU and the contracting authority. The circumstances giving rise to an on-site visit would have to be proportionate and relevant to the investigation. On-site audits or visits are not currently contemplated as part of a standard PRU investigation, and nor are we considering an amendment to Part 10 of the Act to provide such powers, although the procurement oversight powers and processes will remain under review as the new regime embeds.
For 2024/2025, the Cabinet Office has received 11 business cases. Of these, two have been approved to date.
The UK Government Functional Standard for Property GovS 004 sets expectations for the management of government property - including mandating a forward-looking strategic asset management plan (SAMP).
Departments are responsible for their own asset plans, and the Office of Government Property in the Cabinet Office supports their planning as part of the assurance process for the property function. Departments are asked to share their ‘working copy’ plans each year, which provides the ‘functional centre’ with an overview of their strategic intentions to help inform the development of cross-government policy and programmes.
In 2024, all but one ministerial department produced an asset plan. By agreement, some departments did not produce a stand alone plan but are featured in the Government Property Agency’s office portfolio SAMP as its clients. The Government Chief Property Officer is currently writing to all Property Leaders in Departments reminding them of their responsibility to have an up to date strategic asset management plan.
The Cabinet Office collects data on the duration and cost of inquiries from departments, inquiries’ own reports, and other publicly available information.
We have provided details on all statutory inquiries established since 2005 in the table below.
We do not hold information on projected costs; under section 17 of the Act, the procedure and conduct of an independent public inquiry are a matter for the Chair, including acting with regard to the need to avoid any unnecessary cost.
Inquiry | Sponsor Department | Legislative Basis | Year established | Duration in months (from announcement to publication of final report) | Reported final costs where publicly available |
Jalal Uddin Inquiry | HO | Inquiries Act 2005 | 2023 | Ongoing | - |
Thirlwall Inquiry | DHSC | Inquiries Act 2005 | 2023 | Ongoing | - |
Inquiry into the preventability of the Omagh bombing | NIO | Inquiries Act 2005 | 2023 | Ongoing | - |
Independent inquiry relating to Afghanistan | Ministry of Defence | Inquiries Act 2005 | 2022 | Ongoing | - |
Dawn Sturgess Inquiry | HO | Inquiries Act 2005 | 2022 | Ongoing | - |
UK Covid-19 Inquiry | Cabinet Office | Inquiries Act 2005 | 2022 | Ongoing | - |
Lampard Inquiry | DHSC | Inquiries Act 2005 | 2021 | Ongoing | - |
Jermaine Baker inquiry | HO | Inquiries Act 2005 | 2020 | 29 | £4.1m |
Post Office Horizon IT inquiry | DBT | Inquiries Act 2005 | 2020 | Ongoing | - |
Manchester Arena inquiry | HO | Inquiries Act 2005 | 2019 | 41 | £35.6m |
Brook House Inquiry | HO | Inquiries Act 2005 | 2019 | 46 | £18.7m |
Grenfell Tower Inquiry | Cabinet Office | Inquiries Act 2005 | 2017 | 90 | £177.6m |
Infected Blood Inquiry | Cabinet Office | Inquiries Act 2005 | 2017 | Ongoing | - |
Anthony Grainger Inquiry | HO | Inquiries Act 2005 | 2016 | 40 | £2.6m |
The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse | HO | Inquiries Act 2005 | 2015 | 99 | £192.7m (as of Dec 2022) |
Undercover Policing Inquiry | HO | Inquiries Act 2005 | 2015 | Ongoing | - |
The Litvinenko Inquiry | HO, FCO and 3 x Intelligence Agencies | Inquiries Act 2005 | 2014 | 18 | £2.4m (exc. VAT) |
The Leveson Inquiry | DCMS and HO | Inquiries Act 2005 | 2011 | 16 | £5.4m |
The Azelle Rodney Inquiry | MoJ | Inquiries Act 2005 | 2010 | 40 | £2.6m |
Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Inquiry 2013 / The Francis Inquiry | Department of Health | Inquiries Act 2005 | 2010 | 36 | £13.7m |
The Al Sweady Inquiry | MoD | Inquiries Act 2005 | 2009 | 61 | £24.9m (exc. VAT) |
The Bernard (Sonny) Lodge Inquiry | MoJ | Inquiries Act 2005 | 2009 | 10 | £0.4m |
The Baha Mousa Inquiry | MoD | Inquiries Act 2005 | 2008 | 39 | £13m |
The Procurement Act 2023 does not contain financial penalties for failure to publish pipeline notices. There are sufficient remedies and processes in place to manage compliance and the Cabinet Office considers it would not be good use of public funds to introduce such a measure. As per the previous answer (HL3974), Cabinet Office is establishing the Procurement Review Unit which will play a big part in procurement oversight and any non-compliance will be monitored and potentially investigated in detail.
The Cabinet Office maintains a list of public sector dependent suppliers where the suppliers have a contractual obligation to confirm their status to us. 7 suppliers have currently notified us that they are public sector dependent suppliers. The Cabinet Office does not hold a list of all public sector dependent suppliers.
There are several methods of gaining CIPD Membership including study options, apprenticeships and experiential routes. For experiential routes, there is a central Cabinet Office contract with the CIPD for departments to utilise. The costs associated with this accreditation to date are provided below:
Time Period | FCIPD | MCIPD |
January 2024 - April 2024 | £8,090 | £67,725 |
May 2024 - January 2025 | £16,920 | £197,615 |
Departments may also utilise other methods that are available for their SCS and Grade 6/7 HR professionals to gain CIPD membership that are not included in the central Cabinet Office contract
No, the Central Employee Identifier has not been fully implemented across government. The capability to issue IDs is available but changing the legacy ERPs across government departments to hold this has been deemed inefficient with the new cluster ERPs about to commence rollout. These will be following the data standards laid out in the Nova model which includes holding the Central Employee Identifier.
This information is not centrally held and would come at disproportionate cost to the Government/Department in producing this information.
The figures for March 2024 contained in the Cabinet Office Government Major Projects Portfolio (GMPP) data predate the closure of the programme. The baseline figure of £5.5m relates to expenditure in financial year (FY) 23/24. Actual expenditure in FY 23/24 was £5.7m which represents an overspend of 3.6%. The £20m cited in the GMPP reflected the original funding for the FY.
Information is not centrally held by the Cabinet Office on the total number of procurement frameworks currently in use across the public sector.
Crown Commercial Service (CCS) analysis suggests there are approximately 2,275 frameworks in the public sector that compete with CCS agreements.
Under the Transforming Public Procurement reforms, there will be a requirement to register procurement frameworks on the central Transparency Platform. This will enhance transparency and provide greater visibility of frameworks in operation.
The Infrastructure and Projects Authority estimates that approximately 61% of Government Major Projects Portfolio (GMPP) have been re-baselined between 31 March 2023 and 31 March 2024. This rate of change is explained by 3 reasons:
Major projects report a cost baseline that factors in inflation expectations. Each year these expectations have to be revised as inflation forecasts are revised, which in turn leads to a cost baseline revision.
Major projects are the most challenging, ambitious and innovative projects the UK has ever seen, with the scale and scope matching some of the biggest in the world. This challenge is therefore associated with a significant level of uncertainty, which leads to frequent cost baseline revision.
A large number of projects are at the pre-delivery stage, where they are expected, and encouraged, to change their baseline when they are in order to ensure that their plans are correctly set out at the delivery stage.
Pipeline notices are required to be published under the Procurement Act 2023 (the Act). Where a contracting authority has a third-party spend of more than £100 million, it is required to publish a pipeline notice for every procurement with an estimated value of more than £2 million.
Information published in procurement notices will be viewable, free of charge, in an accessible format. It will be clear which contracting authorities are publishing the pipeline notice in the pipeline view on the central digital platform.
The Procurement Review Unit (PRU), established to exercise the procurement oversight powers in Part 10 of the Act, may investigate a contracting authority's compliance with the Act. Non-compliance, including failure to publish a pipeline notice, may lead to an investigation and the results may be published by the PRU. The PRU may make recommendations to the contracting authority in order for them to achieve compliance. The contracting authority must have due regard to these recommendations and may be required to submit a progress report if directed by the PRU.
Further information on the GPA prior year adjustments can be found on page 165 of the 2023/24 Cabinet Office Annual Report and Accounts.
In July 2022 a head lease was surrendered and a new head lease granted with a revised rent which extended the lease term by 20 years. The right of use asset and lease liability were not remeasured to reflect the extended lease term. The financial impact of this error on the restated 2022/23 accounts was as follows:
Right of use assets at 31 March 2023 increased by £81.5m
Lease liabilities at 31 March 2023 increased by £76.1m
Finance expense increased by £0.5m
Right of use asset depreciation expenditure decreased by £0.6m
(Gain)/loss on remeasurement of right of use assets decreased by £6.5m
In March 2023, a Deed of Variation was agreed with a client to extend the sub-lease term by 12 years to align with the head lease. The lease modification should have resulted in the GPA reclassifying the sub-lease from an operating lease to a finance lease in accordance with the GPA’s IFRS 16 accounting policies. The financial impact of this error on the restated 2022/23 accounts was as follows:
Right of use assets at 31 March 2023 decreased by £135.3m
Investment in sublease assets at 31 March 2023 increased by £154.5m
Lease incentive receivable assets at 31 March 2023 decreased by £19.2m
The UK currently recognises EU requirements, including the CE marking, for a range of products. This allows businesses to place goods on our market if they meet these rules, saving them time and money. The Product Safety and Metrology Bill will enable the UK to end recognition of EU product regulations, where it is in the best interests of UK businesses and consumers.
It will also enable the UK to make the sovereign choice to recognise new or updated EU product regulations where appropriate to prevent additional costs for businesses and support economic growth.
This information is not held by government. External estimates suggest that 78% of the onshore dismantling of offshore oil and gas infrastructure is undertaken in the UK.
The Government’s consultation in 2019 on the ‘re-use of oil and gas assets for carbon capture, usage and storage projects’ concluded that there is the potential for significant cost savings for some CCS projects which can re-use appropriate oil and gas infrastructure.
The Government has set out how change of use relief can be issued for certain re-purposed assets. Under this regime, oil and gas companies will be relieved of their decommissioning obligations for repurposed assets if certain conditions are met. Secondary legislation to clarify this process is being developed and is expected to be introduced in due course.
The OSPAR (Oslo and Paris convention for the Protection of the Marine environment of the North-East Atlantic) Convention prohibits the dumping or leaving in place of any disused offshore Oil and Gas installation in the marine environment. To re-purpose an installation, for example as a strategic compensation measure, installations would need to be re-classified and regulated by the relevant competent authority.
The current overall cost estimate for North Sea decommissioning is approximately £40 billion, with UK suppliers in line to receive 70% of planned work in Supply Chain Action Plans submitted to the NSTA in 2022. The Government is currently consulting on the future of the North Sea and is seeking views on how we can seize the opportunities of the energy transition, including decommissioning.
Consultation launched on 5 March, last week.
The ‘Offshore Petroleum Regulator for Environment and Decommissioning’ (OPRED) monitors North Sea operators’ financial and commercial activities to ensure Government has an accurate picture of industry capacity to honour its decommissioning liabilities. OPRED regularly undertakes decommissioning risk analysis in relation to North Sea offshore installations. The Petroleum Act 1998 provides the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, The Rt Hon Ed Miliband MP, with powers to serve legally binding notice on offshore operators to pay for their respective decommissioning programmes. If necessary, OPRED, on behalf of the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, can oblige operators to provide additional financial security to further minimise tax-payer liability.
Since 2000 there have been 7 derogations (exemptions) approved under the procedures set out under OSPAR Decision 98/3. Following an assessment of options and national and international consultations, HM Government was satisfied that leave in situ was the most appropriate solution on balance considering safety risks, environmental impact, technical feasibility, and economic and societal effects.
Details of all derogations are available via OSPAR’s public Inventory of Offshore Installations website.
From a baseline of eight ‘great’ services, 29 of the top 75 services achieved the ‘great’ standard at the point of closing the Top75 Services Programme. In addition to the report provided to the Public Accounts Committee, GDS will shortly publish the list of the 29 ‘Great’ services along with conclusions and learnings from the programme.
There is an error in the data - this expense relates to a premium economy flight from Manchester, UK to Ottawa, Canada to enable Christine Bellamy to represent the UK Civil Service at the AccelerateGOV conference in Canada and attend a series of engagements recommended by the British High Commission. It was not a domestic, business class flight. Premium economy tickets are permitted within policy for flights longer than 5 hours - as was the case here.
Christine Bellamy represented the UK Civil Service as an expert speaker at the AccelerateGOV conference in Ottawa, Canada and while in-country undertook a series of engagements with - and on behalf of - the British High Commission. Meetings included with senior government counterparts from the Canadian Digital Service and Shared Services Canada; with the British Consul General and with a number of Canadian academic institutions and think tanks involved in GovTech, AI and civic society.
The Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology has provided a report to the Public Accounts Committee on the closure of the 2022-25 Roadmap. The report indicates that 29 of the Top 75 Services have reached the ‘Great’ standard, an increase from 8 ‘Great’ services at baselining.
The Government Digital Service has established a Service Transformation team to drive delivery of the next phase of service transformation work set out in Blueprint for Modern Digital Government, building on the learnings from the Top75 Services Programme.
As set out in the Blueprint, the government will develop a detailed Government Digital & AI Roadmap alongside the second phase of the Spending Review, to be published in summer 2025. This will supersede the 2022-2025 Roadmap, and will include details of how we plan to measure progress through the next phase of digital transformation.
In the 2022 to 2025 roadmap for digital and data, Mission Two states that 'All departments will confirm an adoption strategy and roadmap for One Login by April 2023 and their services will have begun onboarding by 2025.'
In April 2023, 16 of the 17 departments in scope had a delivery plan and were working with GDS to onboard their first services. All departments in scope have now committed to onboarding services to GOV.UK One Login, and are actively implementing delivery plans. 59 services have onboarded to GOV.UK One Login, with an extensive roadmap of new services scheduled to onboard over the course of the next 12 months. They are supported by the GDS Onboarding and Engagement team who provide advice and assets to enable technical service teams to onboard their services smoothly.