Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of the 28 per cent of government legacy technology identified in the Government Cyber Action Plan, published on 6 January, has been remediated or decommissioned since January; and what is the target for remediation by the end of Phase 1 in March 2027.

In 2025, DSIT suspended reporting under the previous Legacy IT Assessment Framework due to the burden it placed upon departments. Consequently, a comprehensive account of which systems have been remediated or decommissioned is currently unavailable. However, DSIT have been working with departments to explore innovative and scalable solutions to tackle legacy systems across the public sector, including piloting AI Code Assistants within departments to accelerate legacy remediation activities. The current evidence shows that these pilots are extremely successful and given this DSIT is now considering how this could be expanded

Individual departments are accountable for addressing their legacy technology, supported by £20 billion in funding allocated to digital priorities across government, including the remediation of legacy IT systems. Through the Digital Business Review Process DSIT will track the progress being made and offer support where appropriate.

The Government Cyber Action Plan does not set specific targets for the remediation of legacy systems. This will be a continually evolving picture as DSIT improves the observability of the legacy estate across the public sector. These targets will be set in the Legacy IT Action Plan that will be published later this year.