The Cabinet Office revealed today that it spent more than £3,500 on every computer in its offices though 09/10.

That figure, published in the Government’s updated department business plans, did not include either the costs of maintaining what the department called "legacy infrastructure" or those of "specific secure systems".

The Cabinet Office’s updated business plan also labels the "regular publication of performance details of all ICT projects above £1m", which was overdue in the November 2010 release, as "completed".

The dataset, which can be found on data.gov.uk, accounts for ICT projects up to July 31st 2010, but shows more than 40 of the government’s 248 £1 million ICT schemes yielding a negative return on investment.

Of these, the largest is a Cabinet Office active operations management initiative, which cost a total of £1.3 billion up until July last year. According the Government data it provides no cashable cost savings in 2010/11, dispite being listed as a coalition deficit reduction programme.

One succesful project is the Department for Transport’s data centre consolidation , called G-Cloud, has returned 109% on the Government’s investment.

The Department for Transport performed well generally, with none of its 32 ICT projects yielding a negtive return on investment.