Tens of millions ‘wasted’ on failed States IT projects

An attempt to modernise systems at the Revenue Service at a cost of £24m. has made things worse for taxpayers and staff.

At the same time, £18m. spent on a scheme aimed at centralising customer services – known as MyGov – has delivered no substantial improvements.

The failures were described as ‘an unconscionable waste of public money’ by Policy & Resources’ treasury lead Gavin St Pier in an unscheduled statement made in the States this morning.

‘These failures have damaged trust and confidence in government’s ability to deliver change effectively. That is totally unacceptable,’ said Deputy St Pier.

He told the Assembly that the senior committee, elected in July, and chief executive Boley Smillie, who joined the States in January, had uncovered widespread problems with how major projects had been run in recent years, and they did not rule out discovering more expensive failures in the months ahead.

‘It brings me and P&R no pleasure to say that we and this States have inherited this mess – but it is now this States’ job to sort it out,’ said Deputy St Pier.

He absolved ‘frontline staff’ of responsibility and thanked them for working with professionalism and commitment under pressure. The bungled projects were blamed on senior officials and politicians who had been in charge of them during the previous political term.

‘Our staff have worked tirelessly to keep services running despite poor systems, unclear responsibilities and inefficient processes. Like the public, they deserve better,’ he said.

‘The problems are not with the frontline teams, but with the way major change has been managed and overseen. Ineffective governance and unclear accountability seem to have allowed projects to continue without clear evidence of progress or value for money.’

Mr Smillie, who unusually sat in the Assembly for the statement, has appointed what was described as ‘his hand-picked team’ to begin sorting out the problems which have led to tens of millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money being wasted.

‘This is a major exercise in lifting the drains to get a grip on things that were clearly allowed to drift with inadequate oversight or action for too long,’ said Deputy St Pier.

‘This is not a paper exercise. It will be a structured, focused programme that needs to deliver results effectively and transparently.’

He pledged that accountability would be ‘a core focus’ of the work now under way.

It was already known that another major IT project, the installation of a new electronic system for patients’ health records, was millions of pounds over budget and years behind schedule.

Deputy St Pier told the Assembly that in recent weeks P&R had learned for the first time that the MyGov project ‘has delivered very little of what was promised’.

And he revealed that the changes at the Revenue Service had left behind ‘a system that is clearly not yet complete, appears to have reduced functionality for staff compared to its predecessor, provides poor service levels for customers, and apparently is a system with a limited lifespan’.

‘How on earth could this happen?,’ he said.