Department’s annual report and accounts reveals that audit company primarily based in HM Treasury led an evaluation that recognized ‘some specific areas of risk across small pockets’ of the expertise property

The Cabinet Office is enterprise programmes focused at addressing the areas of most urgent threat arising from the organisation’s ongoing use of legacy IT methods.

The division has revealed its annual report and accounts for 2022/23. The doc reveals that numerous areas of concern had been recognized throughout an evaluation of the organisation’s tech property led by specialists from the Government Internal Audit Agency.

Auditors from GIAA – which operates as an government company of HM Treasury – at the moment are working in live performance with the Cabinet Office’s digital and tech professionals on initiatives meant to remediate probably the most pressing points.

“An audit on legacy technology identified some specific areas of risk for the department across small pockets of the official estate,” the report stated. “The issues are known to the department and remediating activity is underway led by Cabinet Office Digital.  A chief technology officer is in post and is leading to address this with ongoing assurance from the GIAA. There are programmes underway to address the primary areas holding the greatest exposure to legacy technology. The programmes are focused on securing these capabilities and starting transformation work to eliminate risks going forward.  Progress reporting is being provided to the [Cabinet Office] Audit and Risk Committee to provide assurances and maintain accountability for progress.”

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Auditors supplied an total ranking of ‘moderate’ for the Cabinet Office’s risk-management and governance measures – the identical evaluation as final 12 months. Legacy IT was picked out among the many key “areas for improvement”.

Elsewhere within the repot, the division cited the significance of an ongoing tech transformation venture – a £50m-plus programme of work together with the event of a brand new unified system for Official-level info, in addition to an organisation-wide switch from Google platforms to Microsoft 365 tools.

“The department’s vision over the spending review period (to March 2025) is to enable the Cabinet Office through the provision of exemplary digital products and services, whilst transforming the department through placing digital into the DNA of the organisation,” the report stated. “The department will furthermore address information security risk and resilience through significant investment in refreshing our IT platform and implementing our cybersecurity strategy. The Cabinet Office Digital team is developing the digital strategy which will incorporate data, technology, cyber and product strategic intent; guiding the development of a coherent department wide DDaT operating model. This will enable a step change in data maturity, reduce risk, reduce the legacy technology burden and improve productivity across the department.”

The division claimed that tangible progress is already being made in reforming the division’s expertise, together with the rollout of recent units for a lot of employees and upgrades to web connectivity.

“Additionally, over the year, the team have been improving the user experience through a significant refresh of laptops, monitors, video conferencing and improved WiFi; supporting both the return to office working and the Cabinet Office locations programme,” the report stated. “The department’s ability to collaborate and interoperate across government will be further improved through the migration from the Google productivity suite to Microsoft Office 365. This work is now underway.  Teams across the corporate services group are working together to deliver efficiencies through automating processes wherever possible and enabling data driven decision making through democratising access to data; further supporting the development of a digital culture within the department.”

The annual replace indicated that the elevated use of tech and knowledge is not going to solely assist ship higher outcomes, however will even allow the division to shrink its variety of staff.

“All of this will be anchored on the greater use of technology and a more nimble, innovative culture,” the report added. “The goal is to focus on measurable change over the coming 12 months, accompanied by a significant reduction in headcount to create a more streamlined, accountable department with clarity of purpose and a demonstrable culture of excellence.”