SWANSEA COMPUTER MEANT TO SAVE £57M COSTS £80M MORE- AND GIVES ANSWERS IN GERMAN!
One of the worst blunders ever seen on Whitehall saw a 'cost-cutting' computer system end up spouting answers in German and leaving taxpayers with a bill of more than £80million.
A damning report from MPs today accuses the Department for Transport of 'stupendous incompetence' in its management of a multi-million pound efficiency drive.
It said a programme to save £57million in administration costs had instead left taxpayers facing an £81million bill.
Workers were left struggling with an IT system that issued messages in German, wrongly recorded that staff were off sick and randomly confiscated staff holidays.
The Commons public accounts committee said the project was among the worst it had ever examined and laid the blame with senior officials in the department.
It criticised ministers for failing to hold anyone to account by sacking or even disciplining-those responsible for the fiasco.
'Despite the extent of mismanagement in this case, no individuals have been dismissed or properly held to account,' said the report.
The programme, based in a Swansea office which manages human resources, payroll, and finance support for the department, was supposed to cost £55million and produce £112million of savings - an overall economy of £57million.
However, the department now admits that the programme will cost £121million and produce savings of just £40million, resulting in an overall cost to the taxpayer of £81million.
A spokesman for the Department for Transport said: 'As with any large-scale and long-term project, there have been aspects that have taken longer to implement than others.
'However, the system is now starting to deliver real change with smoother and more streamlined processes. We welcome this report and will be responding to it in due course.'
(Mail Online)
