HC Deb 16 November 2001 vol 374 cc977-8W
Mr. Keith Simpson

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what problems have been identified in the(a) installation and (b) management of her Department's IT programmes. [15359]

Mr. Morley

IT programmes in DEFRA are managed using the Government's methodology for project management known as "Prince 2", and have a single individual with overall responsibility for their delivery. In addition, the Department submits IT programmes to independent review under procedures introduced by the Office of Government Commerce earlier this year. The Department's experience is that these approaches are powerful tools for ensuring that problems in individual programmes are addressed at an early stage and successfully.

Mr. Keith Simpson

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what percentage of her Department's budget is for IT. [15360]

Mr. Morley

Around 2 per cent. of the 2001–02 resource budget (ie expenditure covered by the Departmental Expenditure Limit and Annually Managed Expenditure) is planned to be spent on IT.