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The New Statesman’s rolling politics blog

Which of these IT projects face the Tory axe?

Labour tech for the chop if Cameron and co get in

By Jon Bernstein Published 27 January 2010 14:16

We know the general thrust of the Conservative take on government IT projects: money-sapping failure.

It's a position that dovetails nicely with another favourite line of opposition parties in the run-up to a general election -- that such initiatives are a bureaucratic waste of time and money and should be eradicated to fund front-line services/tax cuts/deficit reduction (delete as appropriate).

But when it comes down to it, which of the many Whitehall IT projects would a Tory government ditch?

The technology website silicon.com has delivered an interesting piece of research in an attempt to answer just that question.

Of the 11 big projects introduced by Labour since 1997, two will definitely be axed, five have a low chance of survival, one is in the balance and three should survive:

1. The National Programme for IT Chance of survival: Low
2. ID cards Chance of survival: None
3. ContactPoint Chance of survival: None
4. FiReControl Chance of survival: Low
5. The National DNA Database Chance of survival: High
6. Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act Chance of survival: Low
7. Interception Modernisation Programme Chance of survival: Low
8. Digital Britain Chance of survival: Low
9. e-Borders Chance of survival: Medium
10. Police Central e-Crime Unit Chance of survival: High
11. Defence Information Infrastructure Chance of survival: High

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2 comments

Wed, 2010-01-27 15:11 — mittfh

ContactPoint is already in use in several local authorities, works, and is quite secure (two factor authentication, every single use logged and made available to team managers). Given the recent media concern over Child Protection, I can imagine that although it may get a fancy new name and contain details of fewer children, a variation on a theme of it will continue to exist.

Wed, 2010-01-27 17:57 — Simon Evans (not verified)

ContactPoint may work technically (enough money was thrown at it) but it is solving an ill defined problem. It was an emotional response to one crime, and would not have prevented that crime anyway. mittfh should know that the ID cards programme also 'works' in that cards have been issued (and sometimes paid for). Unwinding any computer system in to which a lot of effort has been put is never easy,

e-Borders is unlikely to survive in a recognisable form for one reason. EU law does not allow (in fact positively forbids) governments requiring advance notice of travel within the EU. Most travel in and out of the UK is to other parts of the EU. e-Borders can only monitor journeys in and out of the EU - effectively making the plan of counting people in and out and stopping people the UKBA does not like before they travel impractical.