Government spurns £200m on abandoned IT projects

Department for Work and Pensions alone spent £156m on aborted IT projects over last five years, new figures reveal

The government has wasted more than £200m on cancelled IT projects over the last five years, fresh figures have revealed.

A series of parliamentary questions from the Tories found The Department for Work and Pensions alone spent £156m on programmes that were later aborted.

Philip Hammond, shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, said the figures are proof of Prime Minister Gordon Brown's “casual” use of public money.

“Families will be outraged millions have been wasted on botched IT programmes,” said Hammond.

The Department for Transport spent £9m on cancelled projects and The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs spent £26m on three programmes that were abandoned before completion.