U.K., Oct. 22 -- UK Parliament issued the following news:
The government has said it cannot publish annual figures showing department and public bodies spending on digital and data-driven transformation because its existing financial systems do not allow it to do so.
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Instead, in its response to the committee's report, 'Rewiring the state: Delivering digital government,' it said that it would consider how to improve this "over time."
The committee's report, published in June 2026, warned that the government lacked a clear plan to deliver a truly digital state and raised serious concerns about the growing prominence of Palantir across public services.
Responding to the committee's calls to end vendor lock-in, the government agreed to develop a strategy to do so, which it said was aimed at strengthening internal capacity and increasing the use of open standards.
However, the government neither committed nor ruled out exercising the break clause in the Federated Data Platform contract with Palantir. Despite this, it did provide further details about which engineers can access data through the FDP and says privacy notices have been updated accordingly. The committee has separately written to the Health Secretary for clarification on the break clause, and full details of this will be published in due course.
The government also agreed with the committee’s recommendations to create strong co-ordination on remediating public sector legacy systems. It pledged to deliver an action plan by the end of 2026 for establishing a dedicated taskforce to progress and secure system modernisation across government.
The government declined to identify which departments and public bodies have yet to adopt basis data hygiene practices, despite a series of high-profile data breaches in recent years. It also didn’t provide information about how it would establish clear leadership for its digital transformation work, failing to engage with the report’s recommendations to appoint a Government Chief Digital Officer at a permanent secretary level.
In response to this, the Chair will give a statement to the House on Thursday 22nd October at 1:30pm in Westminster Hall to discuss the committee's report.
Chair comment
Dame Chi Onwurah, Chair of the Science and Technology Committee, said:
“There's no shortage of hype about how technology can improve public services and reduce costs. Yet, frustratingly, the government cannot provide a clear picture of how much is being spent on digital transformation across departments and public bodies. At a time when ministers are asking taxpayers to fund significant investment in technology, it's concerning that they cannot show where the money is going or how value for money is being measured. This must be addressed as a matter of urgency.
"Additionally, the abolition of DSIT has only highlighted concerns about who is responsible for driving digital transformation across government. I call on the government to revisit its response and create clear leadership that can drive and deliver the scale of change needed.
"However, my committee is pleased to see the government's commitment to develop a strategy to tackle vendor lock-in and build greater internal capacity. Ministers should now go further by exercising the break clause in its Federated Data Platform contract and take steps to reduce our dependence on a small number of large US tech firms."
Further information
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Disclaimer: Curated by HT Syndication.
