Government to cut £95m from IT spending
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Coalition reveals a freeze on new IT spending worth over £1m and plans to close Becta, but projects to be axed not specified
The coalition government announced this morning that it will cut £95 million from public sector IT spending this year.
There will be a freeze on any new IT expenditure worth over £1 million for all government departments, chancellor George Osborne and chief secretary to the treasury David Laws announced in a press conference this morning. Becta, the government agency that promotes the use of information technology, will be closed.
Precisely which ongoing IT projects are to be cut was not specified, but many expect the NHS’ IT refresh project NPfIT to bear the brunt. In August 2009, the Conservative party pledged to “dismantle Labour's central NHS IT infrastructure”.
Last week, PC manufacturer Dell called on the government not to scrap the NPfIT. The “use of ICT in healthcare is the only way any kind of cost savings by any kind of government stand a chance of success,” a company spokesman said. Dell is just one of many suppliers that stand to lose considerable expected revenue were NPfIT to be scrapped.
The Taxpayers’ Alliance, a pressure group with connections to the Conservative party last year, described the NPfIT as the former Labour government’s biggest failure, citing estimates that the project had overrun its budget by 450% to £10.4 billion.
Last year, public sector IT analysts Kable estimated that the total government IT spend for the 2008 / 2009 fiscal year was £17 billion.
