public sector

Years of promises, but officials unable to put a figure on investment

The UK government says its finance systems cannot produce consistent annual figures showing how much departments and public bodies spend on digital transformation.

The Science and Technology Committee's June report warned that spending was fragmented and the government lacked a clear plan for a digital state. The UK public sector spends more than £26 billion annually on digital technology, but that broad estimate does not provide a comparable departmental breakdown.

Responding to the committee, the government agreed with the "intent to publish annual data on digital and data-driven spending" but said it did not "believe this is currently practicable." Existing finance systems could not "provide consistent, reliable and comparable data across departments."

"The government is open to this as a direction of travel and will work with HM Treasury to consider how this could be developed over time," the response…