Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much funding his Department has (a) budgeted for and (b) spent on software updates to legacy computer systems in each of the last three financial years.

Most of the systems within the Department for Transport and its agencies operate on the basis of updates being provided within the licence costs. As such, there is no specific budget or spend for updates.

The Department for Transport employs the Legacy IT Assessment Risk Framework, a standardised methodology designed by the Central Digital and Data Office, to assess the risks associated with legacy digital technology assets across His Majesty's Government. The highest category of risk within the framework is known as ‘red-rated’. This approach enables the Department for Transport to generate a prioritised overview of our legacy technology, clearly highlighting assets that necessitate remediation plans and the allocation of suitable funding for implementation.

At present, DfT(c) and its executive agencies have no red-rated systems and so we are providing a nil return.