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Central government has squandered more than £200million of taxpayers’ cash over the last five years on computer projects that were never delivered. The official cost of cancelled IT projects includes a £135m system for processing benefits, scrapped in 2006 by the DWP, Whitehall’s biggest department. It was disclosed after parliamentary questions by Philip Hammond, shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, who said it evidenced a “casual attitude” to taxpayers’ cash. The total sum of “botched” state-run IT programmes, funded by taxpayers, would outrage families, he said, as they struggle to make ends meet and face recession. Yet a DWP official reportedly said at least half of the £135m that it invested in the defunct Processing Replacement Programme was of “future value to the department.” Optimists will hope that value may be tapped by the department’s 11 existing IT-led projects or programmes, earmarked to cost a total of £1.6billion over their lifetimes. However Mr Hammond said Whitehall’s waste in IT procurement showed how difficult the government has found it to control spending projects. Ominously for external IT specialists used by the projects, ministers are expected to signal a new round of efficiency savings, including spending less on IT and its consultants, alongside today’s PBR. Nov 24, 2008 Email this article Printer friendly page Previous Page
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