"SCRAPPED COMPUTER SYSTEM SHOWS GOVERNMENT INTENT ON THROWING MONEY AWAY" - MULHOLLAND

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Tue 5th Sep 2006

Greg Mulholland MP, Member of the Work and Pensions Select Committee, has criticised the Department for Work and Pensions following the news that an IT project which has already cost over £141 million pounds, has been quietly scrapped.

The abandoned project ran in to trouble in February when it was suspended following a review of its progress. It has now been stealthily cancelled and the civil servant responsible for the programme is believed to have left the department.

Commenting Greg said:

"This failed project is just the latest in a long line of computer problems.

This project has been going for more than two and a half years, has soaked up £141 million pounds of public money, just for it to be axed.

The Government seems intent on throwing money at ill-advised and wasteful IT systems which are not up to task and so inevitably fail."