Industry news

Govt take on new IT help

The treasury has hired a former bluechip IT firm boss to control the amount of public money spent annually on IT projects.

Martin Read, former chief executive of outsource-firm Logica, has been recruited to carry out a review of the government's £13 billion annual IT bill.

"The private sector has made significant strides forward in this area in recent years and my work will examine the scope for the public sector to benefit from this experience ", Mr Read said.

He added he was pleased to be involved with the programme leading the work on back office and IT services.

It has been widely reported the treasury deny his appointment will affect government chief information officer John Suffolk's role, who advises on major IT projects.

Meanwhile, Computer Weekly reported last week that Liberal Democrat shadow chancellor Vince Cable accused the government of wasting half a billion pounds on overrun IT projects.