Questions over measurement of presidency’s legacy IT property pose AI adoption points
Whitehall’s means to undertake synthetic intelligence (AI) know-how dangers being hamstrung by the federal government’s reliance on an unknown quantity of legacy IT, in line with the output of two separate Home of Commons committees this week.
The Science, Innovation and Expertise Committee, which exists to look at the output and insurance policies of the Division for Science, Innovation and Expertise (DSIT), touched on the subject of legacy IT throughout an oral proof session held on 14 October 2025.
The session, which was a part of an ongoing inquiry by the committee into the work DSIT is doing to determine itself as the brand new “digital centre for presidency”, featured submissions from the Institute for Authorities and Crown Internet hosting Information Centres.
“Information on spending is blended at greatest [including] the standard of it … however, traditionally, it has been fairly tough to attach the contract knowledge with the spending knowledge,” he stated.
“Market intelligence corporations will have the ability to offer you a greater guess at it, however it’s not as exact because it could possibly be,” he added.
The roll-out of The Procurement Act in February 2025 was supposed to extend the visibility of presidency spending by introducing necessities that full contract particulars for tech offers in extra of £5m ought to be printed inside 90 days, for instance.
The concept being that this might make it simpler for spending watchdogs, competing tech corporations and most of the people to get unprecedented visibility into how and what the federal government is spending its cash on.
Nonetheless, progress on attaining that has been “somewhat bit blended”, in line with Davies.
“Use of all the various kinds of [contract] notices [required under the terms of the Procurement Act] is rising month on month. Nonetheless, some elements of presidency are nonetheless publishing fewer notices than they had been earlier than the act got here into drive,” he stated.
“That could possibly be an indication of non-compliance, or it could possibly be, for instance, that procurement authorities are selecting to not voluntarily publish notices. However, in principle, the act ought to enhance [transparency].”
How a lot legacy IT does the federal government have?
And whereas query marks stay over how a lot cash the federal government is spending on new know-how, there are additionally difficulties in figuring out how massive the federal government’s legacy IT property truly is, the committee additionally heard.
This matter was touched on in the course of the committee listening to by Jason Liggins, CEO of Crown Internet hosting Information Centres, which is a three way partnership operated by the Cupboard Workplace and colocation agency Ark Information Centres.
The organisation is, in line with Liggins, the most important datacentre provider within the UK. It was arrange in 2015 to assist public sector operators consolidate their legacy datacentres and server rooms by offering entry to extra environment friendly services the place they may host their workloads.
“Our job in Crown Internet hosting is to save lots of the general public sector cash, lower vitality use, cut back carbon and speed up digital transformation,” stated Liggins. “And we already assist [the] public sector save £1.5bn per 12 months … by transferring legacy IT from the server rooms and cabinets throughout the general public sector to very massive, extremely environment friendly services.”
For example of this work, Liggins cited the Division for Work and Pensions (DWP) as a key buyer of Crown Internet hosting, which it labored with to relocate knowledge and purposes to a non-public cloud setup inside its services over the course of 9 months.
The venture was a part of a broader, wholesale transfer to the general public cloud by DWP, which has, thus far, taken seven years, with 70% of the division’s companies now hosted within the public cloud.
In line with Liggins, the transfer into Crown Internet hosting by DWP enabled the division to save lots of £150m a 12 months on its legacy IT prices and obtain its desired return on funding in 9 months.
In response to those figures being shared, committee member and Labour MP Chi Onwurah requested how a lot legacy IT exists throughout authorities, and the way it’s measured, provided that the State of digital authorities overview “successfully” discovered that departments would not have a document of the “legacy belongings” they maintain.
In response, Liggins stated there are mechanisms in place that present a partial steer on how a lot legacy IT is in use throughout authorities, together with one operated by HM Treasury whereby departments should doc how a lot electrical energy is utilized by their IT methods every year, for the aim of carbon impression reporting.
“Defra [the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs] analyses these figures on behalf of all departments to work out carbon financial savings,” stated Liggins. “All the carbon impression [documented in those figures is considered] legacy IT, and that’s as a result of the cloud suppliers don’t return their [carbon] figures.”
On this level, Onwurah requested for clarification if, by that definition, it means the federal government considers all private cloud IT belongings to be legacy, to which Liggins confirmed it does.
“I’ve a specific opinion on the terminology authorities makes use of, in that [in their view] all private cloud IT belongings are legacy, irrespective of whether or not they’re previous, new, or modern,” he stated.
In response, Onwurah stated: “We are able to agree that’s an fascinating definition … so [are you saying] to the committee that the federal government does know what and the place its legacy is by its personal definition, by taking a look at energy consumption?” To which Liggins confirmed that take was right.
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) additionally touched on the subject of legacy IT in its annual report, printed on 15 October 2025, which is the primary printed by the organisation’s newest chair, Geoffrey Clifton-Brown.
The PAC report flagged the persistence of “out-of-date legacy IT infrastructure” as a “main problem” to the implementation of synthetic intelligence (AI) applied sciences throughout authorities, whereas rising departments’ publicity to cyber assaults.
The report cites DSIT’s definition of legacy IT methods, which describes them as “end-of-life merchandise, out of help from the provider, unattainable to replace, now not cost-effective, or thought-about to be in any other case above the suitable danger threshold”.
By this definition, it states that an estimated 28% of central authorities methods met this definition in 2024, which the report described as “extraordinarily problematic” for the federal government’s AI adoption plans.
“Nonetheless, DSIT doesn’t know what number of legacy belongings there are in whole throughout authorities. That is wholly unacceptable within the context of an more and more hostile digital world,” stated the report.
“Whereas authorities has unveiled its plans to handle this drawback in [DSIT’s January 2025] A blueprint for a contemporary digital authorities [policy document], we stay extraordinarily involved by the dimensions of the problem [so] funding for the remediation of the highest-risk legacy know-how should be urgently prioritised.”
The report added: “Our committee beneficial that the federal government ought to set up an strategy for measuring the prices related to addressing legacy know-how, in addition to the prices of failing to behave, to extend transparency and enhance decision-making.”
