Government Digital Service (GDS) launches new Enterprise Architecture team to improve digital foundations across government
The UK public sector continues to grow, with services increasingly digital, interconnected, and reliant on complex systems.
To meet these growing demands, the Government Digital Service (GDS) has re-established its Enterprise Architecture team, creating a new ambitious agenda to improve coherence, interoperability, and strategic alignment across government technology.
Led by the Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO), the new team hopes to lay the foundation for a better digital government.
The GDS focus is on enabling departments to work together more effectively, reducing duplication, and designing services that meet user needs while supporting long-term transformation.
Improving the link between vision and delivery
Enterprise architecture plays a key role in connecting government strategy with on-the-ground delivery.
Rather than focusing solely on technology, it brings together business processes, systems, and infrastructure to create a consistent, future-ready digital environment.
The newly re-established team is setting itself as an example for this alignment. By providing expert guidance and enabling interoperability, it hopes to help departments design scalable, harmonised services that are easier for citizens to navigate.
The emphasis is on supporting innovation while ensuring decisions contribute to a coherent cross-government digital landscape.
A big part of the GDS’s goals is to establish a shared digital architecture that will enable public sector organisations to deliver more connected, efficient services.
Early progress and key achievements
Although only in place for a few months, the Enterprise Architecture team has already delivered several milestones that demonstrate its intent and capability.
A huge early achievement has been the creation of a cross-government Technical Design Council. This group brings together digital and technical leaders to set direction, agree on shared principles, and support coherent architectural decisions across the public sector. With six sessions held so far, the council is already shaping up to be an influential decision-making forum.
Cross-government spending activity
The team has also contributed to the digital aspects of the spending review, including reviewing zero-based reviews and business cases. This work aims to reduce duplication, encourage collaboration, and promote the use of shared components, thereby supporting better value for money and more consistent user experiences.
In addition to these structural efforts, the team has provided architectural insights to advance key GDS priorities. This has ranged from improving end-user device procurement processes to exploring the technical requirements needed to support the once-only principle, which aims to reduce repeated data collection across services.
A stronger community for the future
The Enterprise Architecture team is focusing on strengthening the community of architects across the public sector. Plans include co-creating the first set of government-wide architecture principles and developing practical artefacts that can help teams design and deliver services using modern methods and shared components.
The team is also encouraging public sector architects to help shape priorities and join the conversation about what support is needed most. Nominations are now open for future rotations on the Technical Design Council, offering diverse voices the opportunity to help shape the government’s digital direction.
