The Cabinet Office has revealed it is to abandon the second
phase of the
Scope IT project at a cost of £24.4m.
The project was designed to improve collaboration between the
UK's various security and intelligence agencies.
A spokesman said the Cabinet Office terminated a failing project
after legal and technical advice, but the decision was not taken
lightly.
"We take this issue very seriously and very aware of the loss of
public funds especially at this time," he said.
Jenny Willott, Liberal Democrat Shadow Cabinet Office Minister,
said the decision is particularly worrying because of the nature of
the Scope programme.
"It is essential that security and intelligence agencies and
government departments have effective systems for close
collaboration," she said in a
statement.
The Cabinet Office is responsible for co-ordinating IT across
Government and if they abandon major projects, this does not bode
well for other departments, she said.
According to Jenny Willott, the Cabinet Office took the decision
as early as July last year.
Social media is ruining spy industry, says NCC Group
>>
Costly Big Brother plan won't work, warns LSE >>
Foreign agents get state help to hack UK businesses
>>