A new report, outlining plans for
improvement in the workings of the
Government's Information Technology,
follows a series of high-profile public sector
computer failures, the most notable of
which was last summer's passport chaos
when technology glitches created a severe
embarrassment for the Government, as well
as widespread anger among holidaymakers.

. . .

Last summer's computer problems caused
a backlog of 530,000 applications, forcing
the Home Office to bring in 300 extra staff.
In Glasgow, security guards were hired to
help manage the large queues of people as
staff struggled to cope with an additional
10,000 applications per week.

. . .

The report comes after the Cabinet Office
examined how a range of major
Government IT projects were handled and
looked at dozens of computer systems
across the private and public sector at
home and abroad.

The Herald

-- spider (spider0@usa.net), May 23, 2000