Asked by: Lord Agnew of Oulton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government, with regard to Cabinet Office Senior Officials’ Expenses, July to September 2024, published on 30 January, what specific business justification was documented for Christine Bellamy, the Government Chief Product Officer, travelling business class for a domestic flight to Manchester between 20 and 25 October which totalled £1,693; what alternative or cheaper travel options were considered; and whether this expenditure complied with internal value-for-money guidelines.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
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.
Asked by: Lord Agnew of Oulton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government, with reference to the 2022–2025 Roadmap for Digital and Data, published on 29 November 2023, how many of the 50 government services that were due to reach a “great” standard by 2025 have now met that standard; whether they remain committed to this target; and if not, why this commitment has been omitted from the Blueprint for Modern Digital Government, published on 21 January.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
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.
Asked by: Lord Agnew of Oulton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many government departments met the April 2023 deadline to confirm an adoption strategy for One Login, as set out in the 2022–2025 Roadmap for Digital and Data, published on 29 November 2023; whether the Blueprint for Modern Digital Government sets a new deadline for full adoption; and if not, why no specific timeframe has been included in the strategy.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
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.