Critical IT government report encourages new strategies

The UK government has welcomed a highly critical report on its IT strategy and promised it is already tackling the issues raised.

The report from the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee accuses the government of failing to learn from past mistakes, and jeopardising the whole Modernising Government programme.

The report also documents twenty-six cases of government IT projects that have encountered problems in recent years, including the passport agency fiasco last summer and the National Insurance computer systems. At present, it says, the public are losing out both as tax-payers and users of government services.

However, in a statement, Ian McCartney, Minister of State for the Cabinet Office, claimed that the government is already addressing the problems with a review commissioned last October. The government will set out concrete plans in a corporate IT strategy to be launched in March.

"We will not tolerate failure," McCartney said. "The government will be tough on providers who don't deliver on time, on budget and who fail to improve services".

The report insists government must recognise that IT decisions are key business decisions, not technical issues, and as such need to involve the most senior management. It also calls for a higher degree of professionalism in the negotiation of contracts with IT providers.