DWP predicts boost in annual IT budget

The Department for Work and Pensions estimates that its IT budget will rise 12.5 percent to £1.24bn for this financial year, due to a higher level of spending on development costs.

It spent £1.165bn in 2006-07 and £1.099bn in 2007-08, a 5.7 percent decrease on the previous year, according to figures provided to GC News by the department under a Freedom of Information request.

Stephen Timms MP, a departmental minister, had indicated higher IT project spending in April, when he provided figures showing DWP would spend an average of £438m a year in 2008-10 on specific projects, compared with an average of £350m a year in 2005-08.

In another FoI response, HM Revenue & Customs said that it spent £787.4m in 2007-08, down 14.3 percent on its £918.4m budget in 2006-07. It did not provide information on its estimates for the current financial year.

Read this

Feature: Ten tips for trimming IT budgets

As concerns over the economy continue to mount, IT departments can employ certain tactics to make budget cuts as painless as possible

Read more

However, it did release a breakdown of spending. Last year, it spent £582.9m on IT services and equipment (74 percent of the total), £10.9m on IT equipment (1.4 percent), £201.9m on IT software and development (26 percent) and £1.7m on software licences (0.2 percent).

In total, the two government organisations responsible for benefits and taxation spent £1.89bn on IT in 2007-08.