Jonathan Ashworth letter to Francis Maude on Universal Credit and the Government Digital Service

Jonathan Ashworth letter to Francis Maude on Universal Credit and the Government Digital Service

Following reports that the Government Digital Service team has been pulled from the Universal Credit project

Jonathan Ashworth MP, Labour’s Shadow Minister without Portfolio has today written to Francis Maude, asking why the GDS IT experts were pulled, leading to yet more delays in the implementation of Universal Credit and additional costs.

He has also again asked Francis Maude to clarify the role of the Cabinet Office in the Universal Credit debacle and for all Cabinet Office guidance sent to the Department for Work and Pensions on Universal Credit to be published.

The full text of the letter is below:

Rt Hon Francis Maude MP

Minister for the Cabinet Office

Cabinet Office

70 Whitehall
London

SW1A 2AS

Dear Francis, 

Re: Universal Credit and the Government Digital Service

It has been reported that the Cabinet Office has pulled out its team of Government Digital Service (GDS) IT experts in the Department for Work and Pension’s Universal Credit project.

As a result of this withdrawal there will now be yet more delays in the implementation of Universal Credit, and the Department for Work and Pensions now faces additional costs in trying to urgently employ IT experts to replace the withdrawn GDS staff.

This is one of the most serious problems facing Universal Credit. A leaked risk-assessment document makes clear that the Department for Work & Pensions might not be “able to obtain the skills required to replace GDS within the current market at affordable cost”.

It appears that this is not the first time that relations between the Cabinet Office led by you and the Department for Work and Pensions have delayed the implementation of Universal Credit.

In my question to you at Cabinet Office Questions on 11 December 2013, I asked you to provide the House with a full explanation of your Department’s role in the Universal Credit debacle, and publish all guidance the Cabinet Office sent to the Department for Work and Pensions on this matter.

I am still awaiting the publication of this information, and I repeated this request on a point of order in the House today.

In light of all the above, I would be grateful if you would urgently answer the following questions in the interests of transparency:

•       What guidance did your Department give to the Department for Work and Pensions on the development of the Universal Credit IT system?

•       What advice and guidance did your Department take when deciding to use the ‘Agile’ IT approach in the Universal Credit project?

•       Why was the Government Digital Service team pulled out from the Universal Credit project?

•       Why did you decide to accelerate the withdrawal of GDS staff from the project?

•       What assessment did you make of the potential impact an accelerated withdrawal of GDS staff could have on the project?

•       How many GDS staff have been pulled out of the project?

•       How many other Cabinet Office staff have been withdrawn from Universal Credit?

•       How many internal reviews have been conducted by your Department regarding the Universal Credit project since 2011?

I look forward to your prompt response.

Yours sincerely,

Jonathan Ashworth MP

Shadow Minister without Portfolio