Image source: Lauren Hurley, No 10 Downing Street, Open Government Licence v3.0
The Chancellor of the Exchequer has pledged funds for new technology for probation officers and three projects to test the use of AI in government operations.
The commitments have been included in Rachel Reeves’ Spring Statement on public finances, as the first allocations in the £3.25 billion Transformation Fund to create efficiencies across government.
The formal document for the statement says HM Treasury will provide £8 million for new technology so probation officers can focus on reducing reoffending rather than filling out forms.
It will also provide £42 million for three Frontier AI Exemplars, to be led by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, to test and deploy AI applications to make government operations more efficient and effective, and to remove bureaucracy for citizens.
Details on the exemplars are expected to be made public soon.
Civil Service commitment
The pledges have come with a reiteration of the commitment that by 2030 one in 10 civil servants will be digital professionals.
Other commitments for the Transformation Fund include £25 million for the fostering systems in transforming children’s social care, and £150 million for exit schemes for civil servants. The latter is part of the effort to reduce the administration costs of central government by 15% by the end of the decade.
“This work shows that we can make our state leaner and more agile, delivering more resources to the frontline while ensuring we control day-to-day spending to meet our fiscal rules,” Reeves said in her speech.
“Today, I build on that work by bringing forward £3.25 billion of investment to deliver the reforms that our public services need through a new Transformation Fund. That is money brought forward now to bring down the costs of running government by the end of the forecast period by making public services more efficient, more productive and more focused on the user.”
She also said that a minimum of 10% of the Ministry of Defences equipment budget will be spent on novel technologies including drones and AI enabled tech. This is part of an increase in defence spending to 2.5% of GDP.
