The UK National Audit Office's 2024 Audit of Government AI — 37% of 87 Bodies Had Deployed AI, 21% Had a Strategy, and Only 7 Algorithm Records Were Published

In March 2024 the UK National Audit Office (HC 612) assessed how well the Cabinet Office and DSIT had set up government to capture AI's benefits and manage its risks. Its survey of 87 government bodies (autumn 2023) found 37% had deployed AI, typically one or two use cases each, 74 in total; a further 37% were piloting or planning, and 70% reported skills as a barrier.
Only 21% of bodies had an AI strategy (61% planned one). Among 32 bodies with deployed AI, 24 usually had a named accountable owner, but only 15 usually identified AI use cases at organisational level before deployment. The draft public-sector AI strategy lacked a named owner between DSIT and the Cabinet Office, an implementation plan and performance metrics.
On transparency, the Algorithmic Transparency Recording Standard was not widely used: 38% of respondents never complied with it and the repository held only 7 published entries against 74 deployed use cases (per a law-firm analysis of the report). DSIT announced in February 2024 that ATRS would become mandatory for departments.
The audit is a governance and readiness review, not an outcome evaluation: it did not measure service benefits. CDDO's indicative estimate that almost a third of routine civil-service tasks could be automated was not tested for feasibility or cost. Its value to other administrations is a replicable survey-based baseline and a checklist of governance gaps.

Read the full analysis: https://www.nao.org.uk/reports/use-of-artificial-intelligence-in-government/