Ministry of Justice saves £110m in IT costs

Further cuts expected as department moves to centralised IT function

Ministry of Justice is consolidating IT

The Ministry of Justice has saved £110m by consolidating contracts with six previous IT suppliers down to just two vendors.

The department expects to further cut technology costs by bringing together disparate services into a single IT function next year, according to the ministry’s annual report, published this week.

Savings have also been made within the National Offender Management Service after negotiating reductions in unit charges for basic equipment, such as desktops and laptops.

HM Court Services has saved money through IT upgrade projects and “innovation in the courts” says the report.

And the department’s corporate services team has introduced Development, Innovation and Support Contracts (DISC) and phased out old IT suppliers.

The report also said the Libra case management system is now live and operating in all magistrates’ courts to improve exchange of information with the rest of the criminal justice system.

The department is using the Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA) to improve the capabilities of its IT professionals.