The chancellor has told parliament that IT projects will be included within a £5bn package of cuts.
As part of the presentation of the pre-budget report, Alistair Darling announced that IT projects will be among areas that will see cancellations, also including pensions, legal aid, prison reform and residential care.
"Some programmes will need to be stopped altogether," he said, announcing a sharp slowdown in public spending growth from 2011-12.
The pre-budget report says £500m will be removed from the government's annual spending "from reducing spend on IT, including by reducing the cost and scope of the NHS IT programme".
Darling had already announced cuts to NHS IT in a television interview. Health minister Andy Burnham has confirmed that England's National Programme for IT (NPfIT)will be cut by £600m over its lifetime projected cost.
The project runs to 2014-15, so this would account for only a proportion of the £500m, which will be removed from annual spending by the 2012-13 financial year. However, no other projects were identified for cuts in the report.
The report also says £600m will be saved from greater use of online systems and streamlining contact with the public. This will include:
- £35m from providing business services and advice online, and charging for schemes with the greatest benefit to business
- £15m from the national rollout of the Tell Us Once programme, under which people only have to tell government once about a change of circumstances
- £500m from more efficient use of automation, electronic channels and telephony, and greater risk profiling within HM Revenue and Customs and the Department for Work and Pensions
Spending on consultancy also comes under the spotlight, with the government aiming for a 50 percent cut. It says combined with a 25 percent reduction in marketing and communications spending, this will save £650m.
Talkback
"Spending on consultancy also comes under the spotlight, with the government aiming for a 50 percent cut."
This should be 75%.