Efforts to improve the efficiency of Britain’s civil service through the use of AI is threatened by poor-quality public data and outdated legacy systems, MPs on the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) have warned.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said he wants to improve public services while reducing the size of the workforce through the use of AI solutions.
But the committee found that 21 out of 72 “high-risk” legacy systems still lack the funding needed to update them, which has the knock-on effect of making them more difficult to implement AI technologies into.
Meanwhile, the public has low trust in the government’s potential usage of AI, partly due to a lack of transparency about algorithm-assisted decision-making.
There is also a severe lack of digital skills, with 70% of government bodies reporting difficulties in recruiting and retaining AI-skilled staff. Thus far, half of civil service digital roles remain unfilled in 2025.
Earlier this month, Starmer set out proposals to recruit 2...