In its first full year of operation, the Centre for Digital Public Services has prepared the ground for services in Wales that put the needs of the user first and foremost. We’re helping to deliver digital public services that are simpler, faster and easier to use. They’re services that let citizens get what they need from the Welsh Government, councils and charities as efficiently as possible and then get on with their lives.

We’ve prepared the ground for better public services by:

  • surveying the service landscape in Wales to prioritise activity and investment
  • working with our public sector partners to improve services through user-centred design and Agile approaches
  • enriching the digital skills base within the Welsh public sector, by sharing skills ‘on the job’ in multidisciplinary teams and through CDPS’s popular training courses
  • raising awareness about user-centred services through a diverse comms programme and by building professional communities
  • influencing senior leaders across the Welsh public sector to make decisions that support digital change

This review looks back over CDPS’s activities during the financial year 2021-22. It shows how those activities, and their outcomes, map to our founding objectives. CDPS wants to build a lasting source of digital expertise in Wales – with that in mind, the review also shows how our activity aligns with the 7 well-being goals and 5 ways of working in the Well-being of Future Generations Act.

We are, too, practising what we preach. The review is written in plain English, using short sentences and language most readers will understand. Diagrams and charts have enough colour contrast for visually impaired people to make them out. Graphics all have an alternative text explanation – ‘alt text’ – which screen-reader apps can read aloud.

Finally, we’re publishing the review as HTML web pages on the CDPS website, rather than in the outdated (and poorly accessible) PDF format. We’re also using multimedia content – video interviews with public sector colleagues CDPS has worked with, as well as from people working at CDPS explaining their work.

This executive summary highlights the main outcomes from CDPS’s activity in 2021-22. It summarises our impact upon specific services – what we’ve helped to build. And it shows how we’ve worked in the open throughout our first year, reporting progress and challenges transparently.