Government Digital Service and DSIT publish Digital and Data Benefits framework

The Department for Science, Innovation & Technology (DSIT) and the Government Digital Service have published the ‘Digital and Data Benefits framework‘, a policy paper that provides evidence and analytical methodologies for use in business cases and other associated products for digital and data projects across government. The document says it should be used alongside HM Treasury’s Green Book.

The framework covers AI, service transformation, data, capability, technology, cyber, and interoperability. It says its scope is the articulation and monetisation of digital and data benefits only, and that it is not stand-alone business-case guidance.

In the AI section, the framework states that recent Government Digital Service analysis found £6.3 billion in potential annual savings across the Civil Service, including £1.1 billion in potential cost reductions and £5.2 billion in productivity gains. It says the analysis used a large language model to review 200,000 Civil Service job descriptions, identify more than 1.5 million individual job tasks, and score each task for its potential for augmentation or automation by current AI tools.

The framework also states that a Government Digital Service trial involving 20,000 civil servants using Microsoft Copilot found average time savings of 26 minutes per day. It says more than 70% of users in the trial cohort spent less time searching for information and performing mundane tasks, and more time on higher-value tasks, innovation, or public service impact.

Beyond AI, the document sets out appraisal approaches for service transformation, data, capability, technology, cyber, and interoperability. It also states that sensitivity analysis is essential and that benefits identified in one theme should not be double-counted in other areas.

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