A Senate committee has slammed government efforts at digital transformation.

The report into the digital delivery of government services, produced by a majority Labor and Greens committee, dubbed digital transformation “a policy area beset by soaring rhetoric and vague aspirations by government, largely unconnected to the actual policy activities actually undertaken”.

“The government has not demonstrated that it has the political will to drive digital transformation,” the report said.

The review said the Digital Transformation Agency has had a “muted” role in bringing technological advances in government services.

The committee made eight recommendations, calling on the government to establish a timetable for independent audits of IT contracts.

This would help “identify whether government is taking on a level of risk that is consistent with the contract price and community expectations”.

The report also slammed the level of IT expertise in the public service, recommending a long term strategy be developed to increase capability within the APS to perform work that currently gets contracted out.

It called on the Digital Transformation Agency to develop education and training programs for all public servants, including SES officers.

“On its current trajectory, the APS risks becoming exclusively a cadre of generalist managers who no longer have the requisite policy and technical skills to conduct the business of government,” the report said.

The report said there were “serious deficiencies in the way departments contract with the private sector”.

Government members issued a dissenting report saying they support the government’s approach to transforming digital service delivery.

The government senators said the majority report's criticism of ministers and the senior public servants reflected “a callous disregard for the hard work and dedication of senior public officials, but also a disregard for the facts”.

They said contractors on IT projects were needed to fill skill shortages within the public service.