Feodora-adobeNewsGovernment needs to fix tech staff hiring process, says Whitehalls AI bossGiving evidence to the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee, tech experts highlighted the lack of clarity on data exchange, the need for the new Government Digital Service to execute, and a lack of actual tech expertsByLis EvenstadPublished: 25 Mar 2025 15:31 The Science, Innovation and Technology Committee has questioned tech experts on the governments plans for the digital centre of government or the new Government Digital Service (GDS).The committee examined the role of the new centre and whether the governments digitisation of public services will be successful.Earlier this month, prime minister Keir Starmer promised a potential 45bn in savings should the government get digital services right, and pledged to send teams into government departments to ensure they are utilising technology and artificial intelligence (AI).This is part of the governments blueprint for digital government, published in January 2025, which promises agile technology delivery, upskilling of civil servants and a focus on AI.Giving evidence to the committee, the governments head of AI, Laura Gilbert, said there are currently a lot of people in senior digital, data and technology (DDaT) roles in government who she would not consider technology people, adding, I wouldnt hire them.Its very difficult to hire technologists well. The way the civil service hires for this sort of role is not suitable for this sort of purpose. Its really hit and miss, she said, adding that having CVs with the right buzzwords and programming languages checked off doesnt necessarily make those people the right fit for the job.The system doesnt have a way to hire that assures that people [can] do the job. Until that changes, its going to continue to be very difficult.She added that to become an AI engineer in the governments AI incubator, she puts potential hires through a four-hour coding test, testing their skills in a real scenario, while the civil service is still doing behaviour-based interviews and trying to apply that to technical roles.Gilbert said she is also concerned about the prime ministers announcement that, by 2030, one in 10 civil servants will be in a digital role.Will they really be digital skills? Would Google hire them? Because thats the standard we should be going for, she said.The committee also questioned the potential 45bn in savings, a figure that comes from a Bain & Company report published in January 2025.Gilbert said the methodology for coming up with those numbers is perfectly good but, as with everything else, its guesswork.She said there is a front-loaded part where there are easy gains on quite big projects you can spin up that dont rely on keeping legacy systems afloat, but a lot of it will be long-term projects that need people and money, and she doubts the government will ever get to a point where they can say theyve saved exactly 45bn.Former civil servant turned consultant Richard Pope, director of Richard Pope and Partners, added that it is really hard to digitise an analogue service and not save money, so there will naturally be savings.But projects predicated on saving money tend not to work very well for the public, he added.He is also concerned that the government has publicly focused too much on AI as the saviour.I wonder if ministers have painted themselves into the corner with AI a little bit, because its almost like AI has become synonymous with savings, he said, adding that there are other digital products, services and systems that may not sound as flashy, but work well, and that to achieve the savings predicted, the government needs to use the full scope of digital.Both Pope and Gilbert are concerned by the lack of clarity around what the government is trying to do in data exchange.Pope said that in the past five years, GDS has done five different data exchange projects, and the governments blueprint signals that another one is in the works.Gilbert is concerned that the value around the data programmes so far has been really low and not far-reaching. She says the plans around the data library and data sharing need to be really clear on why its being done and what problem it is trying to solve, whether that is data exchange within government, public data, personal data, what the outcomes will be, and where the money is being spent.The practical implementation is very important. There is a real lack of clarity on what people are trying to do in the system, she said.Pope added that the new GDS needs to show that it can exercise influence across the system and focus on delivering good services for civil servants and the public, particularly getting to grips with old, end-of-life systems.Theres a lot of unmaintained technology the government relies on to do its job. Its not good enough at the moment, and we obviously need to fix that. We need to do that at the same time as delivering value to the public, he said.While the governments plans for digitisation focus heavily on cyber security and legacy systems, Pope said it is important to think a bit more holistically and focus on digital public infrastructure and what is needed to deliver what works cross-government. The experts also pointed out that while the remit of the new GDS is a good one, should it work, it will be difficult to get right.Pope said that historically, GDS has been focused on citizen-facing services, as opposed to businesses and the wider economy, which has been left out.Gilbert added that the proof will be in the implementation.The other thing is, how are we tracking whether its delivering on that remit in a way that does not involve lots of written documents and involves actual outcomes? she said.Read more about government and technologyIn his plans to reform the state, prime minister Keir Starmer is pushingfor artificial intelligence to take on tasks for civil servantsand calling time on NHS England.As the prime minister sets out plans for the use of artificial intelligence to take over civil service tasks, Computer Weekly looks at potential challenges and concerns around the decision.Changes to government digital spending will includestaged fundingwith regular review and a pathfinder programme to test new funding models suitable for digital projects.In The Current Issue:Can a future digital NHS survive another change?Digital twins drive efficiency across machines and infrastructureDownload Current IssueSLM series - Memgraph: The SLM-knowledge graph combo CW Developer NetworkHonor Magic7 Pro, a smartphone with an eye for AI Inspect-a-GadgetView All Blogs