SMARTER ICT MUST UNDO GOVERNMENT LEGACY OF WASTE AND DELAYS - WILLOTT

12.00.00am GMT Wed 27th Jan 2010

Responding today's release of the Government's new ICT Strategy, Jenny Willott, Shadow Liberal Democrat Cabinet Office Minister, released figures showing that 33 abandoned and 77 over budget Government ICT projects over the last decade have wasted almost £1.2bn in taxpayer's money and caused a total of 70 years worth of delays.

Commenting, Jenny said:

"This is a welcome move after more than decade of eye-wateringly expensive government ICT cock ups.

"This Government's addiction to grandiose computer projects has poured billions of taxpayers' money down the drain and humongous delays.

"It's good to see that the Government has finally heeded our calls for modern, efficient ICT methods to be used such as open source software.

"The government needs to be careful that the proposed data rationalisation programme does not lead to breaches of privacy or leaves citizens' personal information vulnerable to hackers and identity theft.

"It remains to be seen whether the Government can actually deliver this strategy on time and to budget."