The government’s ambition to boost efficiency by embedding AI in all aspects of its work risks being undermined by out-of-date technology, poor quality data and a lack of skilled staff, an influential Commons committee has warned.

The report by the cross-party public accounts committee (PAC) found that more than 20 government IT systems identified as “legacy”, meaning out of date and unsupported, have yet to be given funding to improve them.

Government research cited by the PAC in the report found that almost a third of central government IT systems met this definition in 2024.

Keir Starmer’s government has repeatedly stressed its desire to increase economic growth through the mass take-up of AI systems, including in the public sector.

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An official plan for the technology published in January called for the government to “rapidly pilot” AI-powered services, saying this would both increase productivity and improve people’s experience of dealing with officialdom.

In a speech earlier this month, Starmer said AI should replace the work of government officials where it can be done to the same standard, with 2,000 new tech apprentices to be recruited to the civil service.

However, the PAC report also warned about “persistent digital skills shortages in the public sector”, in part because of civil service pay levels “that are uncompetitive with the private sector”.

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSI), which is spearheading AI roll-outs in government, says it has previously recognised many of the same worries in two reports published in January, the State of Digital Government and Blueprint for a Modern Digital Government.

However, the PAC report makes a series of new recommendations, including setting a six-month deadline for the department to specifically set out how it will fund replacements for the highest-risk legacy technology, and to also assess the costs of failing to take action.

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It also calls for action to improve public confidence in the transparency and standards for how AI is used in government, saying that as of January this year, just 33 official records had been published setting out algorithm-assisted decisions and how they are made. The report recommends this be sped up.

The report also identifies a lack of coherent systems to learn from the mass of different AI pilots taking place across government, calling for action to address this.

Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, the Conservative MP who chairs the PAC, said: “The government has said it wants to mainline AI into the veins of the nation, but our report raises questions over whether the public sector is ready for such a procedure.