Image source: Lauren Hurley, No 10 Downing Street, Open Government Licence v3.0
Archaic technology is leading the public sector to miss out on £45 billion in productivity savings each year, according to a report to be published by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT).
It said the State of Digital Government Review will be published on Tuesday of this week and will show a continuing over-reliance on contractors in government and how cyber attacks are placing public services in jeopardy.
In response, the Government is planning a wholesale reshaping of how services use technology, to be set out later this week.
Among the issues highlighted in the report will be that it is still not possible to access nearly half of public services online, the public sector workers are wasting time sifting through physical letters, and that response time to the public are unacceptably long.
Examples include the need to register a death in person and forcing firms to place an advertisement in a local paper when they want to buy a lorry.
Info sharing shortcomings
There are also shortcomings in information sharing between public sector bodies, which makes it more difficult for people in need to obtain support.
In addition, more than one in four digital systems used by central government were found to be outdated, and in the worst cases the figure almost tripled to 70%, the report will say. A growing number of these systems are ‘red rated’ for reliability and security risk.
DSIT said there are plans to overcome these with the increased use of digital tools and AI – as highlighted by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer last week – and with a “wholesale reshaping” of the use of technology to improve services and save money.
It has pointed towards the introduction of a new service offering from the Government Digital Service to search for cyber vulnerabilities, the provision of a new AI tool for connecting clean energy projects to the national grid, and a tool to support infrastructure projects.
Wither and decay
Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said: “Technology that sits at the foundation of our country has been left to wither and decay under the hands of the previous government, too often grinding to a halt and stalling essential public services – racking up a huge bill for the taxpayer.
“It doesn’t have to be this way – and it won’t be with our Plan for Change. There is a £45 billion jackpot for the public sector if we get technology adoption right, that’s twice the size of the black hole we faced when we took office, and it’s not an opportunity we can let pass us by.
“The new findings are also expected to show government departments have been pushed towards bringing in contractors and consultants to complete basic technological tasks instead of full-time staff. This trend was driven by weak salaries and headcount restrictions that stopped departments. This is despite them costing three times more than civil servants and eating up £14.5 billion in taxpayer money a year.”
