HC Deb 17 November 2003 vol 413 cc488-9W
Dr. Pugh

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what major IT projects with a value in excess of £10,000 he authorised expenditure on in each of the last three financial years. [125723]

Mr. Browne

Expenditure on projects is formally approved by the Department's governance process and authorised through review gates. These reviews ensure that projects are meeting the standards we expect (including business change, technical, financial and commercial criteria) before authority to progress to the next stage of their development is given.

Major IT projects are those contained within our modernisation programme which is regularly reviewed by the Secretary of State. The following table outlines the major IT projects included in the programme during the period April 2000 to March 2003 and provides supplementary information regarding the stage each project has reached and its key achievements to date. For completeness it includes two major modernisation projects to create new infrastructure for Jobcentre Plus and the Pension Service.

The key stages in the Department's project lifecycle are defined as follows:

  1. 0. Initial feasibility
  2. 1. Define and initiate
  3. 2. Design changes
  4. 3. Develop changes
  5. 4. Implement changes; realise benefits

It should be noted that project details may alter as they pass through the project lifecycle.

Project Name—2000–03 What stage the project has reached Key achievements to date
Universal banking programme Implement changes 1 April 2003: Universal banking go live—new banking services available at post offices including Post Office card accounts.
Pension credit Implement changes April 2003: Advance application for pension credit invited.
May 2003: Minimum income guarantee to pension credit—conversion started.
October 2003: Pension credit payable. 1.97 million pensioner households are now in receipt—of which 82,000 are as a result of new pension credit awards in October. Pension credit application line have taken their millionth call.
Pensions transformation programme (PTP) Design changes The project is currently focusing on designing and delivering changes to the Pension Service organisation, business processes, services and IT.
Implementation of the Pension Service, including project empower Realised benefits 26 pension centres operational, including those part of the Project Empower (Burnley and Swansea)
Resource management system Develop changes The project is configuring standard Oracle software and implementing best practice processes to replace the Department's existing resource management systems.
Pensions forecasting Implement changes October 2001: Combined pensions forecasting service available.
Interactive e-services Implement changes April 2003 customers are able to claim child benefit and provide information about changes of circumstances electronically via the internet.
ISCS/JSAPS modernisation project Define and initiate The Department's updated IS/IT strategy has identified new ways of delivering IT improvements at lower risk. The modernisation of our income support and jobseekers allowance systems is now being taken forward in line with updated IS/IT strategy principles for example, a preference for commercially available packages rather than bespoke development and staged incremental improvements rather than "big bang" replacement.
Modernising appeals programme Initial feasibility The programme was refocused in October 2003 because of doubts about its cost effectiveness. A new feasibility study has been commissioned to look at lower cost approaches, and to include any business change requirements resulting from the move to the Department of Constitutional Affairs.