The government has declined to comment on a basic mistake it has
made in an official report on a £7bn defence IT project.
A "Treasury Minutes" report - which forms the Government's
response to criticisms by the Public Accounts Committee on the DII
- mistakenly attributes the DII project to the Ministry of Justice.
The project has nothing to do with the Ministry of Justice: it is
run by the Ministry of Defence.
The
mistake came in the government's formal reply to Parliamentary
criticisms of the £7bn Defence Information Infrastructure
[DII].
The prominence of the mistake in the report on the
DII suggests that the government might have been relaxed in
fact-checking the document. On the first main page of the report it
says, "First Report - Ministry of Justice - Defence Information
Infrastructure".
Computer Weekly has asked two Treasury officials at separate
times this week whether the error in the Treasury report raises
legitimate concerns about whether other information in the document
is accurate. The report is generally reassuring about progress on
the DII, although the project is running 18 months behind
schedule.
Neither official made any comment.
The Public Accounts Committee had raised questions about how
well the Ministry of Defence was in control of the DII. The project
is run by Atlas, a consortium led by EDS.
The flawed Treasury minutes on the Defence Information
Infrastructure project >>
MoD concealed truth on the DII project costs >>