Overview

• GDS published detailed rules urging teams to work in the open, protect main branches, separate production secrets, and adopt multi-stage deployments with strong testing and vulnerability scanning.
• A DSIT pilot from November 2024 to February 2025 involved over 1,000 developers across 50 departments using GitHub Copilot and Google’s Gemini Code Assist under more than 1,250 licences.
• Roughly an hour of work per coder was saved daily, with only about 15% of AI-generated code used unchanged as trained engineers reviewed and edited outputs.
• User feedback was largely positive, with 72% citing good value, 58% preferring to keep the tools, 65% completing tasks faster, and 56% solving problems more efficiently.
• Tools were applied to projects including the Humphrey assistant and healthcare systems, and ministers are tying the approach to a stated ambition of up to £45bn in public sector efficiencies.