In a surprise move the NHS has published 31 separate Gateway project reviews for the £12.7bn National Programme for IT.

Gateway reviews are designed to test the business case for projects at various different stages of their lifecycle.

Until now civil servants have been resisitant to publishing Gateway reviews because they say it would place constraints on decisions that should not be made in the public eye.

But in March government buying agency the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) and the Home Office were forced to publish Gateway reviews for the ID cards programme after a decision by the Information Tribunal.

The OGC insisted at the time the case would not set a precedent.

But it has since taken a decision alongside the NHS to publish these reviews in response to a Freedom of Information request.

Commenting on the decision, a spokesman for the Department of Health said: During the early years of the National Programme for IT, these reviews took place in order to highlight things which needed to change and issues to be addressed. They were therefore deliberately critical and focused on problems. That was the objective. But they were also balanced in highlighting positive progress too."

The reviews cover a period between 2002 and 2007. Because the material is older than two years, almost all of the content has been made public - only the names of junior members of staff are restricted.

Computing will publish an analysis of the information shortly.