MPs warn bean counters could delay vital IT projects

MPs have warned that the government’s efficiency enforcers risk delaying vital IT projects unless it is clarified who is ultimately accountable for delivering cost savings in government projects.

The warning came from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which has been reviewing the progress made by cross-departmental bean counters.

The PAC gave a broadly warm welcome to the work of the Efficiency and Reform Group (E&RG), established to drive through government plans to shave £81bn off public spending.

In its newly published report, the PAC praised the E&RG, headed by former government CIO Ian Watmore, for providing clear evidence of how it had delivered £3.75bn in savings in its first year.

But the report also warned that the group’s creation had resulted in new tensions between government departments over who will have the final say on whether high-profile IT projects will result in value for money.

“The Department for Work and Pensions told us that it had delayed progress with implementing online benefit applications because of the centrally imposed IT moratorium,” stated the PAC report.

The E&RG has made a large chunk of the cost savings through renegotiating contracts with third-party services providers, many of whom work on its big IT projects. In total, it reduced spending on large cross-department suppliers by £806m and cut spending on consultants by £869m.

The PAC report also shed light on the latest government thinking on how to improve the dismal track record of large IT projects.

E&RG officials told the PAC that the dearth of project management and implementation skills in the upper echelons of the civil service undermine its capability to deliver major projects on time and to budget.

The E&RG proposed a new model “where people with subject-specific expertise could be deployed with more flexibility to deal with problems that arise on projects”.