CGPN 2026 Agenda

Government has talked about building digital capability for years, yet many departments continue to be heavily reliant on contractors. As transformation accelerates, a critical question emerges: is government building sustainable capability, or outsourcing its future? Despite growing investment, skills gaps persist, digital literacy remains uneven, and competition with the private sector continues to intensify. At the same time, expectations of the civil service are rising to build sustainable, in-house capability and foster cultures that embrace digital change. This panel explores how government can move from short-term resourcing fixes to long-term capability, aligning workforce strategy with transformation goals.

• Where should departments prioritise investment to build high-impact, in-house data and digital capability?
• How can government reduce reliance on contractors without slowing delivery?
• How do we scale meaningful digital literacy across the civil service?
• How can leaders evolve culture, career pathways, and incentives to retain talent?  

Despite efforts to reform, central government still operates largely in departmental silos, limiting opportunities to deliver joined-up, efficient systems. With pressure mounting to do more with less, 2026 marks a shift toward converged operating models and cross-government collaboration. Yet barriers remain around data-sharing, supplier management and investment decisions. This session brings together leaders to explore how government can move from isolated initiatives to a system-wide approach. What practical steps would enable data sharing and align strategy across departments? 

• How can government overcome cultural and organisational barriers to effective data sharing?
• What does a realistic, joined-up operating model look like across departments?
• How can shared services reduce duplication while respecting departmental autonomy? 

Effective procurement is no longer about buying services, but a strategic lever for innovation. In 2026, there is a renewed emphasis on working with SMEs, embedding social value, and fostering homegrown capability rather than relying solely on large vendors. This session explores how government can buy smarter, deliver better outcomes, and enable innovation across the public sector. How can we balance risk with efficiency, while ensuring tech investments contribute to the green transition, mission-led innovation, and UK digital capability, and align with broader government objectives.

• How can departments balance working with SMEs and large vendors to drive innovation?
• How can procurement decisions strengthen UK digital capability rather than just buying solutions?
• How do procurement reforms support environmental, social, and economic objectives? 

Quantum computing, agentic AI, and other emerging technologies are rapidly reshaping the cyber threat landscape and redefining how governments protect critical systems and data. While these technologies unlock new capabilities for public service delivery, they also introduce systemic risks that current security models are not designed to withstand. For central government leaders, the challenge is no longer awareness, but readiness. This session will explore how to build resilient, future-ready systems while seizing strategic advantage in the face of accelerating technological change.

• Where should government focus investment to balance long-term resilience with near-term operational demands? 
• How can cross-government collaboration strengthen security, ethics, and interoperability at scale?
• What does evidence-led cyber resilience look like across critical national infrastructure, and how do we operationalise it?
• Where should government invest now to prepare for the opportunities and challenges of new technologies?

Legacy tech is a widely recognised barrier to transformation, but a deeper challenge lies in understanding what already exists. Across central government, decades of system changes, undocumented workarounds, and staff turnover have created significant gaps in institutional memory, making modernisation complex, costly, and high-risk. As departments push to adopt AI and new digital services, many are finding that progress is constrained not just by outdated systems, but by a lack of visibility into how those systems operate. This session explores how organisations can take a more strategic approach to modernisation. 

• How can departments better understand and map legacy systems before attempting transformation?
• How should leaders balance the cost of modernisation with long-term operational value?
• What practical approaches enable low-risk migration to modern platforms?

As government shifts to platform-based services, delivery is fundamentally changing. Systems are no longer owned by single departments, but built on shared infrastructure, powered by cross-government data, and shaped by automated decision-making. While this enables scale and efficiency, it raises a critical question: when something goes wrong, who is accountable? This panel will explore real-world experiences from senior leaders operating in complex, cross-government environments. Rather than theoretical discussion, speakers will reflect on situations where accountability was unclear, decisions had to be made under pressure, and existing governance models were tested.

• When systems are jointly owned and continuously evolving, how should accountability be defined?
• How do we assign responsibility when decisions become automated?
• Are current governance, audit, and assurance models fit for platform-based government?
• What practical steps can leaders take now to prepare for failure, not just delivery success?