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DWP still spending “significant sums” on Universal Credit scheme, say auditors
By Tony Collins The National Audit Office has again qualified the annual accounts of the Department for Work and Pensions. Amyas Morse, head of the NAO, says the level of fraud and error at the DWP...
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DWP’s advert for a £180k IT head – what it doesn’t say
By Tony Collins Soon the Department for Work and Pensions will choose a Director General, Technology. Interviewing has finished and an offer is due to go out to the chosen candidate any day now. The...
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Universal Credit project costs reach £36,222 per claimant (excluding the claim)
By Tony Collins Iain Duncan Smith has told MPs that the costs of the Universal Credit project are £652m to March 2014 – which is about £36,222 per successful claimant. The figure includes the money...
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Universal Credit full business case “a long way from Treasury approval”
By Tony Collins Yesterday in Parliament Iain Duncan Smith gave a statement on Universal Credit – then MPs asked him questions. Conservative MP Nigel Mills asked IDS a straightforward question: “Can...
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Universal Credit: some highlights of today’s NAO report
By Tony Collins Excerpts from today’s National Audit Office report “Universal Credit: progress update” … Not complete by 2020 “Not all legacy benefit claimants will have moved to Universal Credit by...
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HMRC seeks smaller IT contracts – a big risk, but worth taking?
By Tony Collins Public Accounts Committee MPs today criticise HM Revenue and Customs for not preparing well or quickly enough for a planned switch from one main long-term IT contract to a new model of...
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A great speech in praise of the Public Accounts Committee
By Tony Collins Margaret Hodge spoke incisively this week about her five years as chairman of the 160 year-old Public Accounts Committee. It’s assumed that civil servants answer to ministers who are...
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Has 8 years of IT-based outsourcing really come to this?
By Tony Collins In public, in the past, Taunton Deane Borough Council’s IT-based outsourcing deal has always been a success. Two years ago council officers and an executive at IBM were particularly...
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DWP will fight to stop publication of Universal Credit reports whoever wins...
By Tony Collins On 7 July 2004 the Work and Pensions Committee called on the DWP to be “significantly more open about its IT projects”. Today – 11 years later – the DWP is fighting to stop publication...
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Is HMRC spending enough for help to replace £10.4bn Aspire contract?
By Tony Collins Government Computing reports that HM Revenue and Customs is seeking a partner for a two-year contract, worth £5m to £20m, to help the department replace the Aspire deal which expires in...
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Another fine NHS IT mess
By Tony Collins Today the National Audit Office reports on the General Practice Extraction Service, an IT system that allows patient data to be extracted from all GP practices in England. The report...
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Yet another NHS IT mess?
By Tony Collins Last week the National Audit Office reported on the failure of the GP Extraction Service. Health officials had signed off and paid for a contract even though the system was unfit for...
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FOI hearing today on DWP’s refusal to publish Universal Credit reports
By Tony Collins External lawyers acting for the Department for Work and Pensions are due to appear before an FOI Upper Tribunal judge in London today to argue why four reports on Universal Credit...
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DWP “evasive” and “selective” with information on Universal Credit programme
By Tony Collins Has the Department for Work and Pensions put itself, to some extent, beyond the scrutiny of Parliament on the Universal Credit IT programme? Today’s report of the Public Accounts...
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Is DWP’s Universal Credit FOI case a scandalous waste of public money?
By Tony Collins It’s extraordinary that some of the Department for Work and Pensions’ main arguments against publishing three reports on the Universal Credit programme resemble, in part, those given by...
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Judge orders FOI release of Universal Credit IT reports
By Tony Collins A judge has ordered the Department for Work and Pensions to release three Universal Credit IT reports that ministers and their officials have spent public money trying to keep out of...
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Crabb’s momentous FOI decision on Universal Credit IT?
By Tony Collins Stephen Crabb, the new DWP secretary of state who replaces IDS, has started to make a difference. On 3 April 2016 the Sunday Times reported that Crabb had ordered officials to stop...
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Hidden for four years – a review of Universal Credit IT
By Tony Collins This is the independent Universal Credit Project Assessment Review that lawyers for the Department for Work and Pensions went through numerous FOI tribunal appeals trying to keep...
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Aspire: eight lessons from the UK’s biggest IT contract
By Tony Collins How do you quit a £10bn IT contract in which suppliers have become limbs of your organisation? Thanks to reports by the National Audit Office, the questioning of HMRC civil servants by...
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NHS “Wachter” digital review is delayed – but does it matter?
By Tony Collins The Wachter review of NHS technology was due to be published in June but has been delayed. Would it matter if it were delayed indefinitely? A “Yes Minister” programme about a new...
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