Greening Government: ICT and Digital Services Strategy 2020-25

On 6th October my colleague Susanne Baker organised an excellent briefing by Adam Turner on the Greening Government: ICT and Digital Services Strategy 2020-2025. The strategy was published on 9th September and this session set out objectives, provided a detailed explanation of the deliverables and how they would be implemented in practice.  The main implications data centre operators, cloud and IT service providers are the increased focus on transparency of supply chain and outsourced services, not just in terms of energy and carbon, but also in terms of responsible sourcing, ethical employment practices and resilience. This matches the increasing scrutiny being applied to the sector both from within and externally by regulators, stakeholders and customers.

Summary of the session

The main objective is for government ICT to be part of the solution, not the problem.  The emphasis has moved from an inward facing review of the sustainability credentials of government ICT to a broader focus on digital services including supply chain, disposal and outsourced activity.  The focus has also broadened from sustainability to responsibility and resilience. 

There are five key deliverables: 

1. Reduced carbon and costs
2. Improved resilience so that government ICT is prepared for climate and ecological risks
3. Increased responsibility – ensuring that everyone plays a part within government and through the supply chain.  Procurement will be key here and for other deliverables.
4. Transparency and collaboration -internal and external: a more standardised data request from government rather than different requirements from each department.  More information from suppliers on carbon impacts of outsourced services.  Possibly some review to ensure that existing services are delivered in a sustainable way.
5. Accountability – making sure things happen: reporting requirements on government and ministerial endorsement will escalate, and sustainable ICT is included in other strategies and cross government sustainability reporting. 

Broader business rules will provide a framework for project requirements in areas like transparency and circular economy.  KPIs will include carbon reduction, waste and the presence of relevant contractual conditions. 

Three other things to note included:

1. The Technology Code of Practice: this was important but previously had not been clear and concise enough.  It would be distilled to set out exactly what was required at each stage of a project.   See: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/technology-code-of-practice/technology-code-of-practice
2. Annual Reporting by departments and agencies: Each year departments report carbon emissions and energy usage of ICT and outsourced digital services, plus waste and best practice.  Reports were available from 2010 which allowed comparisons and lessons to be learned.  see:  and those that are being consumed.  It also captures waste.  And best practices.  Due to be published    Shows progress in last year and progress since 2010 and will highlight what has gone well and what not. 
3. Social Value Framework: Following a consultation last year, the Social Value Framework has been published via a PPN, which will be applied to all new procurements by 1 January 2021. The Framework will represent 8% of the weight of scoring decisions, with freedom for departments and agencies to give further weight to these criteria (Defra, the MoD and the Environment Agency among those who have already committed to higher weightings). Further detailed guidance is expected to be published in the coming months. The two documents are mutually reinforcing.

We are actively considering how we can support members in working through these documents. If there is anything specific you think we can do, please do reach out and let us know.

You can watch the recording here. Passcode: %n1Cm*u1

Slides from the session are available here.