Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, who is responsible for digitisation in his Department; and what mechanisms the person with responsibility for digitisation uses to champion digitisation.

GDS leads the digital function across government. Each Department has individuals responsible for leading digital in their respective Departments.

In MHCLG the Chief Digital Officer is Paul Maltby.

The mechanisms used to develop digital maturity are as follows:

We have a controls process in place to adhere to GDS and Cabinet Office standards.

We procure or build office IT and digital services.

We offer a User Centred Design team to design digital products and processes for the department.

We have teams working jointly with policy officials and local government to build digital maturity and the digital transformation of land planning and housing sectors

We hold regular digital showcases and show and tell events attended by a large cross section of the department to help build digital capability and awareness.