Written question asked by Lord Steinberg (Conservative), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Lord Myners (Labour) on Tuesday, 24 February 2009.

Government: IT

Question: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether any of their information technology projects are experiencing difficulties; and why 45 projects are considered by the Office of Government Commerce to be unachievable.

Answer: Of 2007 OGC Gateway reviews completed to date, 964 were categorised as having been carried out on IT enabled projects. Since the introduction of delivery confidence in June 2008, four projects have received a single red delivery confidence rating, indicating that successful delivery of the project, as currently constituted and defined, appears to be unachievable and that the project may need re-baselining and/or its overall viability reassessed. The Gateway report contains recommendations which, if adopted, should help the project to improve its potential for success. Prior to June 2008, 41 projects received a consecutive red review, indicating that at the time of the review one or more of the recommendations, contained within a review report, needed to be carried out urgently. The red status was not a reflection of the overall status of the project and did not necessarily mean that the Office of Government Commerce considered the projects to be unachievable.

Secondary information