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Written Question
Cabinet Office: Bloom Procurement Services
Tuesday 1st April 2025

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 procurement notice Review on the State of Digital Government (2024/S 000-039897) published on 11 December 2024, why this contract was awarded via Bloom Procurement Services rather than through a direct Cabinet Office procurement; and what assessment they made of the cost of conducting this procurement via the Central Digital and Data Office.

Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The contract was awarded via Bloom Procurement Services as part of the government’s commitment to ensuring value for money and efficiency in procurement processes. Bloom operates as a neutral vendor, providing a pre-approved supplier network that enables access to specialist services through a streamlined and competitive procurement route. In this case it was assessed that using Bloom facilitated access to a broad pool of suppliers with relevant expertise, whilst reducing administrative overheads and ensuring competitive pricing. Conducting this procurement via the Central Digital and Data Office would have required additional time and resources, potentially delaying delivery. The use of Bloom allowed for a more agile procurement approach, balancing cost-effectiveness with the need for timely delivery.


Written Question
Electronic Government
Tuesday 1st April 2025

Asked by: Lord Agnew of Oulton (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the publication of the State of Digital Government Review on 21 January (CP 1251), what methodology they used to calculate the estimate that full potential digitisation could deliver over £45 billion in annual savings and productivity benefits; what the projected savings are by department and public body; what proportion of savings is expected to be cashable; and what level of investment is required to achieve these efficiencies.

Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The Government’s £45 billion estimate is based on a detailed, bottom‐up analysis employing three levers: automating routine tasks (£36 billion), migrating services online (£4 billion) and reducing fraud via digital compliance (£6 billion). This work scaled bespoke analysis conducted on the Civil Service to the wider public sector, with overlaying case studies. A sizable proportion of these benefits is expected to be cashable, although exact figures vary by domain and profession. Achieving these efficiencies will require substantial, bespoke investment, and we are working to ascertain that in the largest opportunity areas. A more detailed methodology will be published online in due course.


Written Question
Cabinet Office: Procurement
Tuesday 1st April 2025

Asked by: Lord Agnew of Oulton (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government, following the publication on 11 December 2024 of the procurement notice Review on the State of Digital Government (2024/S 000-039897), why the evaluation criteria were weighted 85 per cent on quality and 15 per cent on price; and whether the Cabinet Office or Bloom Procurement Services was responsible for setting the evaluation criteria.

Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The Cabinet Office set the evaluation criteria, with an 85 per cent weighting on quality and 15 per cent on price, to ensure that the contract was awarded based on expertise, capability, and the ability to deliver high-quality outcomes. Bloom Procurement Services acted as a neutral vendor facilitating the procurement process but was not responsible for determining the evaluation criteria.

This weighting aligns with standard industry practice for procuring highly complex and strategic services, where the ability to deliver effectively is more critical than cost alone. In such procurements, a high emphasis on quality ensures that suppliers are assessed on their technical expertise, delivery methodology, risk management, and ability to provide value beyond minimum requirements.


Written Question
Government Departments: Digital Technology
Monday 10th March 2025

Asked by: Lord Agnew of Oulton (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 13 February (HL4576), what are the 29 government services that have reached the “great” standard under the Top 75 programme; and what is the classification of the remaining 46 services.

Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

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.


Written Question
Cabinet Office: Travel
Wednesday 19th February 2025

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.


Written Question
Government Departments: Digital Technology
Thursday 13th February 2025

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.


Written Question
Government Departments: Digital Technology
Thursday 13th February 2025

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.