Another Day Another Computer Failure At The Treasury
Has the release of a critical report into the IT systems at the Treasury forced the cancellation of the department's latest super computer venture? Are the UK population getting value for money from government IT spending?
These are just two of the latest questions being asked of the Treasury department after a new computer which was to collect PAYE from 30 million of the UK's residents was cancelled indefinitely. The move comes just after a report into IT at the Treasury suggested that forecasts for future savings of £11 billion were both far fetched and falling further and further behind schedule.
The computer system in question is part of the massive £2.6 billion investment into the modernisation of the tax collection system but like so many before it, the project has been dogged by delays and claims that it will not actually be able to do what it was built for. As the public purse comes under renewed pressure from the falling economy the last thing the government need is the high profile cancellation of an expensive computer system.
Over the last 20 years we have seen a number of new computer projects come and go and very few have actually made the impact which was promised, indeed many have not even made it into the marketplace!
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