§ Earl Russellasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether for each of the following Department for Work and Pensions information technology projects they will list (i) the start date, (ii) the planned completion date, (iii) the current expected completion date, (iv) the planned cost and (v) the current estimated cost—(a) DSS Year 2000 programme; (b) Site Backbone Upgrade; (c) DSS Corporate Intranet; (d) CSA Operations Re-organisation Project (ORP); (e) Decision making and Appeals; (f) Working Families' Tax Credit; (g) Data Protection/Freedom of Information Act(s); (h) Resource Accounting and Budgeting; (i) Devolution (Scotland); (j) PSCS/ INCAP—Changes to SDA (SDA Reform); (k) Disability Living Allowance Administrative Reforms; (1) Order Book Control Service (OBCS)—National Rollout Project; (m) HQ Stakeholder Pensions Project; (n) Child Support Reforms New Rules Implementation; (o) Bereavement Benefits; (p) Payment Modernisation Programme; (q) AMS(P) Pensions Forecasting Project; (r) Second State Pension (S2P); (s) Jobseeker's Allowance-New Deal for Partners of the Unemployed; (t) Strategic Debt Solution Project; (u) ACCORD IS/IT Supply Programme (Office and Networks); and (v) ITSA Strategic Outsourcing Project; and [HL589]
Whether they will list individual Department for Work and Pensions information technology projects grouped under (a) working age, (b) pensions, (c) children, (d) corporate, and for each of those projects list (i) the start date, (ii) the planned completion date, (iii) the current expected completion date, (iv) the planned cost and (v) the current estimated cost; and [HL590]
Whether they will give (a) reasons for, and (b) a breakdown of, the increase from the planned cost of £57 million to a current cost of £432 million for Department for Work and Pensions information technology projects; and [HL591]
Whether they will give (a) reasons for, and (b) a breakdown of, the increase from the planned cost of £289 million to a current estimated cost of £726 million for Department for Work and Pensions working age information technology projects; and [HL592]
121WAWhether they will give (a) reasons for, and (b) a breakdown of, the increase for the planned cost of £856 million to a current estimated cost of £1,539 million for Department for Work and Pensions corporate information technology projects; and [HL593]
Whether they will give (a) reasons for, and (b) a breakdown of, the decrease from the planned cost of £914 million to a current estimated cost of £864 million for Department for Work and Pensions children information technology projects. [HL594]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Baroness Hollis of Heigham)The following projects have been concluded: DSS Year 2000; Site Backbone Upgrade; CSA Operations Re-organisation Project; Decision Making and Appeals; Working Families' Tax Credits; Resource Accounting and Budgeting; Devolution (Scotland); Disability Living Allowance Administrative Reforms; Order Book Control Service—National Rollout Project; Bereavement Benefits; Jobseeker's Allowance—New Deal for Partners of the Unemployed; Strategic Debt Solution; Accord IS/IT Supply Programme; and the ITSA Strategic Outsourcing Project.
Those projects that are still ongoing are included within the overall costs of the modernisation projects supporting the main areas of welfare reform set out in the table below. Projects are brigaded under these headings to facilitate the management of the department's modernisation programme.
Early estimates have been revised as a result of the 2000 spending review settlement which provided additional funding for modernising the department which enabled it to undertake necessary and more extensive improvements. Additional improvements have also come on stream since initial calculations were made and estimates have been revised as implementation has progressed. This department also now has responsibility for projects that were previously in the domain of the former Department for Employment and Education.
Programme Start date Expected Completion Date Early (planned) Cost Estimates (£ million) Current Estimated Cost (£ million) Working Age Sept 1999 March 2004 289 726 Pensions Jan 1999 December 2004 57 432 Children Autumn 1999 April 2003 914 864 Corporate June 1999 March 2005 856 1,539 Note: The costs shown have the following characteristics; they do not include any increase for pay and prices over the period; they include both IT and non-IT cost estimates relating to each IT project; they include estimates where IT contracts have not yet been let; they do not include ongoing core costs which will be incurred once the projects "go live". Additionally, the figures are 122WA high level estimates that are consequently subject to change. Because of the number of projects involved under each of the headings, the dates given can only be a broad indication of the timescales involved. The expected completion date for the Working Age Programme relates to the first phase of modernisation. The full modernisation of all working age services is likely to continue beyond this date.