Digital skills shortages, including those self-inflicted through headcount cuts, risk costing government much more in the long run because opportunities to transform are foregone, and delays increase the risks of prolonging legacy systems. Government estimates it has under half the number of digital, data and technology professionals it needs, when benchmarked against comparable organisations. Yet departments are constrained in what they can pay and, while they try to offer more for specialis...

Digital skills shortages, including those self-inflicted through headcount cuts, risk costing government much more in the long run because opportunities to transform are foregone, and delays increase the risks of prolonging legacy systems. Government estimates it has under half the number of digital, data and technology professionals it needs, when benchmarked against comparable organisations. Yet departments are constrained in what they can pay and, while they try to offer more for specialist roles, cannot fully compete with the private sector in hard-to-recruit roles such as data architects and cyber security experts. Despite offering inter Type: conclusion | Number: 4 | Response status: accepted Government response: The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. challenges faced as a result of skills shortages. Emphasis should be placed on overcoming these challenges. CDDO runs Quarterly Business Reviews (QBRs) with departments, where regular updates are requested on d