FOI REF: FOI/2023/1037

You asked

Under the Freedom of Information Act, I would like to request the following information:

  • The duration of time utilising cloud infrastructure
  • The criteria used to choose a cloud provider
  • The percentage of infrastructures employing cloud services
  • The supplier of cloud infrastructures used. (AWS/Oracle/Azure etc.)
  • Case studies highlighting the successful implementation of the 'Cloud-first' strategy
  • The uptime of the cloud infrastructure
  • The annual budget over the last five years for IT-managed services
  • Please provide the percentage spent on cloud-managed services

We said

Thank you for your request.

The duration of time utilising cloud infrastructure. 

  • We began conducting Proof of Concepts in 2017 and embarked on production cloud usage in 2018  

The criteria used to choose a cloud provider. 

  • is based on the standard criteria used by government procurement (mostly this involves being on a framework such as DDOS or the Digital Marketplace) along with the potential provider’s ability to service our particular project needs (scale, price, technology choices). 

The percentage of infrastructures employing cloud services. 

  • Between 25% and 50%, depending on how it is measured. 

The supplier of cloud infrastructures used. (AWS/Oracle/Azure etc.) 

  • ONS utilise elements of all three major cloud providers - AWS, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure. We also use a tiny amount of the IBM cloud to manage our business automation tools. 

Case studies highlighting the successful implementation of the 'Cloud-first' strategy. 

The uptime of the cloud infrastructure. 

  • Greater than 99% 

The annual budget over the last five years for IT-managed services 

  • The spend classified as IT Managed services for the last 4 years. This classification only began in 2020. (Rounded to £000m) 
  • 2020: £1,000,000
  • 2021: £15,000,000
  • 2022: £14,000,000
  • 2023: £16,500,000

Please provide the percentage spent on cloud-managed services 

  • 2020: 0%
  • 2021: 9%
  • 2022: 11%
  • 2023: 25%