Back in January, technology secretary Liz Kendall launched a digital and tech strategy – A roadmap for digital government. Intended to improve services, augment infrastructure, and transform public services, the roadmap committed to a range of actions across six core areas: services; artificial intelligence; infrastructure; talent; funding; and transparency.
These commitments would, as Kendall put it, “put power and control back in your hands, when you use any government service”. As we head into summer, is this aspiration translating into reality? Here’s our guide to progress so far against the plan’s biggest and boldest proposals, as well as those that may be less conspicuous – but no less critical.
Updates on progress are correct at the time of CSW's summer magazine going to press.
Joining up public sector services
The first section of the roadmap is also its busiest, with plans broken down into 15 areas across two sub-categories, respectively covering accessibility and transformation. The first, and perhaps most significant area addressed by the plan concerns fostering “stronger local and central government collaboration”. Leading this work will be the new GDS Local unit established within the Government Digital Service.
Plans to establish leadership structures between central and local government are scheduled for summer 2026, according to a spokesperson for GDS. The first version of the Local Government Architecture Model was shared publicly in April, and the intention is to develop it further, in collaboration with sector representatives.
The roadmap also promises to pilot the delivery of some local government services via the GOV.UK App. This pilot was completed in March, and will inform further expansions to the app, a spokesperson confirms.
Also put forward in the roadmap is a commitment to “embedding digital inclusion to make services accessible to all”. This work will encompass measurable “inclusion metrics” being enshrined in government’s service standard. The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology pledged to publish “new inclusive service principles and patterns” this summer. A spokesperson for the department confirms the work to do so is underway.
Another eye-catching ambition is geared towards “transforming how businesses interact with government online”. To do so, government hopes to offer “an easy-to-find ‘front door’ to personalised information, services, and support for businesses”.
The roadmap adds: “Working towards the aim of delivering a seamless and personalised experience for businesses, our next phase of work will develop the functionality of business.gov.uk. We’ll test solutions to help businesses overcome challenges, using data to anticipate user needs and preferences.” A DSIT spokesperson confirmed that more detailed plans will be shared throughout 2026.
The transformation-focused section of the roadmap runs through digital plans in a range of service areas, including: NHS healthcare; child safeguarding; immigration and borders; employment and careers; benefits; driving and vehicle services; tax and customs; and services for prisoners. It also rubber stamps a new unit within GDS, CustomerFirst, aimed at “improving customer service”, which was announced a few days before the roadmap. The team has a remit to “transform up to four priority public services to improve them for citizens by March 2028”, with a focus on learning from best practice in private-sector customer service.
“We’ll take a radical approach to redesign customer contact and casework away from the constraints of legacy systems,” the roadmap says. “This includes making better use of AI and other technologies and will save public money.” Individual upgrades include ongoing implementation of “speech and translation AI for frontline probation staff” and the introduction of new services to the NHS App, including mental-health support and access to “a new home-testing service for HPV screening”.
HM Revenue and Customs is also set to launch several major new citizen-facing platforms this year. “If you’re a Pay As You Earn customer, you’ll have access to a new online service which will give you direct access and control over your tax position, making it easier and quicker to check and update your income, allowances, reliefs and expenses,” the roadmap says. “If you use self assessment services, you’ll have expanded digital services to help you register and improve the process if you no longer need to file. If you’re a newly liable employee, you’ll also be able to report child benefit through your tax code, avoiding the need to register for self assessment in the first place.” A government spokesperson has confirmed that these improvements will continue to be rolled out throughout 2026.
Harnessing the power of AI for the public good
The second core section of the strategy outlines proposals in four areas concerned with the use of artificial intelligence. This includes “promoting a test-and-learn approach across the public sector through the prime minister’s AI exemplars”. This encompasses various programmes on which work began last year, including “pilot projects [that] included AI tools to support planning decisions, improve tax compliance, assist probation casework and help NHS staff discharge patients”.
“Projects now being scaled more widely include tools to find and understand content on GOV.UK, improve education content and diagnose health conditions,” the roadmap adds. “By transforming services in a responsible and considered way, these projects are already showing their potential to deliver wide-scale impact across public services.” These will be complemented by work aimed at “driving public sector productivity with innovation and prototyping” – the centrepiece of which is the Humphrey suite of AI tools. One of these – Extract, which can digitise paper maps and written documents – was scheduled to be available to all local authorities from May onwards. A government spokesperson said that the rollout of Extract is “ongoing”.
The roadmap also sets a goal of “using AI and technology in education to improve pupil outcomes and reduce staff workload” and, finally, “creating practical guidance for responsible AI adoption”. Led by GDS, this includes the publication of new procurement guidelines intended to help public bodies invest in AI responsibly.
Other initiatives include a newly convened Responsible AI Advisory Panel, which met for the first time in March, as well as an interactive version of government’s data ethics guidance.
A government spokesperson said a decision has been made to “make responsible AI procurement guidance available through the AI Knowledge Hub rather than as a standalone publication”, which will bring all relevant guidance together in one place.
Strengthening and extending digital and data public infrastructure
This section of the plan addresses the need for upgrades of outdated systems and processes, as well as outlining ambitions for major new investments in tech architecture. But first will come work focused on “understanding our digital systems to improve them”. GDS has published a new approach for central government organisations, aiming to give “a clearer, fuller view of how and where legacy technology is being used today”. This will be followed by the introduction of “stronger standards for maintaining records of digital assets, including legacy technology and critical national infrastructure”, as well as tweaks to the GovAssure regime of cyber-resilience assessments.
Towards the end of 2026, GDS will also work with departments across government in a bid to “improve security across government supply chains by mapping them more clearly, setting and enforcing baseline security standards”. The roadmap provides detail on previous and upcoming work on “upgrading outdated legacy systems in key public services”. This encompasses remediation of the tech infrastructure of public bodies including the Department for Work and Pensions, Home Office, and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. A government spokesperson has confirmed that work on a new approach to legacy technology is progressing, with the team “conducting a range of engagements and pilots”.
Also outlined in the roadmap is a plan for a new “Secret Community Cloud [that] will offer a secure cloud computing environment to both the national security community and the wider public sector. According to the roadmap, the Cloud is expected to be operational later this year. A government spokesperson has confirmed that “the Ministry of Defence, supported by the National Security Digital Centre, is developing Secret Community Cloud” and that “this is an ongoing piece of work”. GDS will also lead efforts to deliver “joined-up standards and approaches… frameworks for secure, ethical data use… [and] common systems and platforms for all of government to use”.
“The Returnship programme brings
in technical colleagues who have been out of work for 18 months or more, the majority of whom are women”
This last area of focus will see the digital unit publish a “national cloud strategy”, which aims to build on government’s own long-standing ‘cloud first’ tenet. “GDS will build on this landmark policy by introducing a new strategy for all sectors to make the most of the cloud as a national asset,” the roadmap says. “Through guiding principles, this strategy will help to drive economic growth and innovation and support secure, resilient and sustainable public services.”
As part of a commitment to “building the platforms to share and use data effectively”, the document provides an update on the National Data Library – the flagship government tech policy set out in Labour’s manifesto for the 2024 general election. The delivery of the National Data Library is described in the strategy as being “informed by diverse user needs and expert advice. Early projects will showcase new ways of using public sector data to positively impact people’s lives.”
Elevating leadership and investing in talent
The roadmap dedicates a whole section to people and skills, including a pledge to help “elevate digital leadership” throughout the civil service. Doing so will involve implementing a new scheme that “will focus on supporting the development of high potential technical leaders and their career progression into the senior civil service and will include topics such as strategic leadership, commercial acumen and system-level thinking”. The roadmap says that applicants for all government jobs at director or director general level will be assessed on “digital and data skills and behaviours, with digital expectations stated in job descriptions and reflected in performance objectives” from April this year. A government spokesperson said that its approach to embedding digital and data skills at the senior level is in development.
The strategy also sets an expectation – although not a mandate – that, from the end of this year onwards, all central and local government entities should “have a digital leader on their executive committee and a digital non-executive director on their board”. This drive to get more specialists in senior roles will be accompanied by initiatives aimed at “building all civil servants’ digital, data and AI skills”, including a new “core digital curriculum for all civil servants… [that] will give civil servants at every level the tools and knowledge to work in a modern digital government”.
The roadmap also recognises the importance of “getting the digital, data and AI specialists government needs”. To help meet the challenge of doing so, government launched a “Returnship programme” in March, meeting its roadmap commitment. “This programme brings in technical colleagues who have been out of work for 18 months or more, the majority of whom are women,” the document says. A government spokesperson added that the AI Accelerator programme has been expanded “with two new learning programmes for data scientists and software engineers.”
Government also committed to publish a new “digital workforce 2030 strategy… that supports departments to increase their digital and data workforce and plan for the future”. This will be published in 2026, with further details to be shared “in due course”.
Funding for outcomes and procuring for growth and innovation
A lot of work has already been undertaken in support of an objective of “changing how we fund digital work to focus on outcomes”, with pilots of three new funding models being launched in September 2025. This includes: “staggered funding for innovative technologies; staggered funding for live services; and outcome‑based portfolio funding”. The roadmap pledged that in April, GDS would lead an effort to introduce new assurance measures to “enable improved management of digital, data, and technology initiatives, from their inception through to delivery”. A spokesperson for GDS said the launch of Government Assurance Services in April has met this commitment.
By October 2028, a newly implemented system will mean that HM Treasury “will be able to access and track departments’ finance and performance data in near real-time for the first time”. This will enable “better quality analysis and challenge” of spending plans across government. Alongside this improved analysis will be efforts aimed at “simplifying spending and approval processes to deliver new and improved services faster”.
Again, significant progress has already been made here, with the rollout of a new digital Get approval to spend service beginning in January last year. This is accompanied by a new Central Digital Platform developed by the government commercial function for the purpose of “publishing, managing and analysing procurement, [and which] will make buying new services and tools much more accessible and transparent”.
“Departments will start sharing annual outcome-based data on the performance of their services with each other, with secretaries of state held accountable in regular reviews”
The roadmap said that in March of this year, GCF would unveil “a single place to store, find and provide supplier information”. A spokesperson said the launch of a new Supplier Information and Registration Service in March 2026 has met this commitment. In addition, “consistent structured spending data is now available for [Procurement Act 2023] through the Find a Tender Service”.
Around the end of the year, GDS and the Treasury will start to apply new digital assurance measurers to all forms of spending control – not just digital, data and technology. The roadmap also sets an ambition for “improving the public sector’s buying power through the Digital Commercial Centre of Excellence”, which was created a year ago and sits within DSIT.
The centre will play a key role in publishing government’s first Digital Sourcing Strategy, which was due for release in March. A spokesperson said the strategy is being reviewed to align its delivery with refreshed priorities. A new timeframe will be shared soon.
Around the end of 2026, the aim is to “agree an ‘All of Government’ central cloud contract”. “The first central contract of its kind, this will create a standardised, marketplace-based framework that maximises government’s purchasing power,” the roadmap says.
Committing to transparency and driving accountability
The final section of the roadmap begins with a commitment to “working in the open to build better digital services and public trust”. A key element of this objective to date has been engagement work on the part of GDS to encourage departments to release data via government’s Algorithmic Transparency Recording Standard. In March, GDS met its commitment to “analyse published records to determine how well ATRS records increase public understanding of, and trust in, government’s use of algorithmic tools”. The digital unit has also committed to shortly begin “publishing roadmaps for major products” that will be openly available on GOV.UK.
The final goal set out in the roadmap is “creating a consistent approach to measuring how digital services perform”. In support of this, several months ago GDS began pilots of a new “digital performance framework for central government departments”. From this August onwards, departments will begin sharing – with each other, although it is unclear whether this will also include public sharing – annual performance data. Alongside this, “secretaries of state [will be] held accountable in regular reviews, [which] will encourage open working and drive evidence-led improvements across digital government”.