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Patchy levels of expertise have led to “uneven” adoption of artificial intelligence across the public sector, according to the UK parliament’s Public Accounts Committee.

In a 22 October report entitled ‘Smarter Delivery of Public Services’, PAC argued that though government’s drive to increase AI adoption was “clear”, a shortfall in related skills posed a barrier to achieving its AI goals.

The committee pointed to shortcomings in several key government plans and initiatives to drive AI, including the AI Opportunities Action Plan, the AI Playbook, the Whitehall AI Accelerator Programme and the Transformation Fund. The AI Playbook, for example, did not fully address “systemic barriers such as skills gaps or risk aversion”, according to the report, which also said that “effective adoption will ultimately rely on institutional will and capacity among departments”.

The report added that none of the government’s initiatives prevent departments from creating “duplication tools and platforms… especially if driven by distinct departmental budgets and priorities”.

The report by MPs also highlighted the under-utilised role of the civil service’s Operational Delivery Profession (ODP), which needed more “skills, time and support” to improve public services. The ODP is the largest profession in central government, with more than 290,000 members.

Read more: UK government to boost civil service AI skills in latest One Big Thing campaign

“Transformative changes needed by government will require both large scale projects and day-to-day incremental improvements involving frontline staff,” it said.

“This requires a working environment that encourages openness, innovation, and challenge of current thinking, with senior leaders who see failure as an opportunity to learn rather than an exercise in sharing out blame.”

The report advised that the ODP should identify opportunities for “increasing its impact through collaboration” and to set out how it planned to “raise the external profile of operational delivery as a desirable career path”.

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, Public Accounts Committee chair, added: “In the ODP, government has a large pool of committed public servants to hand, whose ideas should be harnessed and potential maximised. The civil service should be shouting about the ODP, with a view to providing career paths for young people and joining up with local government and the private sector.”

Read more: OECD urges governments to take ‘high-benefit, low-risk’ approach to AI

The report’s recommendations – and government AI use cases

The report urged the ODP to demand clear plans from departmental heads of profession as to how they would give staff the time, skills, tools and support needed to “raise ideas, learn from each other, and get involved with improving services”.

It also advised the ODP to work with the government digital and data profession to “define the digital skills that ODP professionals require, and include them in the new skills framework, to support government organisations to navigate the impact of new technology and artificial intelligence and adopt it to deliver better services”.

Innovation 2026 takes place on 24 & 25 March 2026 and will focus on helping civil servants make use of new technology, including artificial intelligence. Find out more and register now.

The UK government has kickstarted various AI use cases. For example, the Department of Business and Trade has reported 34 current or planned use cases, the Department for Education has recorded 20 use cases, the Treasury has three main use cases, with two more planned, and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is deploying AI in four use cases.

A number of UK departments are trialling generative AI chatbot Microsoft Copilot, while others use tools created by the government’s Incubator for AI (i.AI), such as Redbox, Minute and Parlex, which can help analyse and summarise policy documents and other materials.

A research briefing produced earlier this year by the Ada Lovelace Institute found a trend of resistance to using AI among frontline public sector staff. The institute said some frontline workers were reluctant to use AI tools in contexts where “they do not see them as defensible and legitimate”, and added that “public backlash” to AI had caused some professionals to “withdraw from data sharing” and led others to abandon AI projects altogether. 

Read more: Australia sets out standards for government AI alongside new collaboration tool

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