This article is more than 1 year old

Take that NATS! Jocko IT is also totally rubbish. BOOM!

Forever joined in a union of substandard tech

Scottish nationalists have a lot more in common with their Sassenach cousins than they'd like to admit, with both nations seemingly equally crap at IT.

A report by the country's spend watchdog Audit Scotland found the government "Continue[s] to encounter difficulties" in managing Information and Communication Technology (ICT) programmes.

Caroline Gardner, Auditor General for Scotland, said that the "difficulties in managing ICT programmes in both the public and private sector are well documented, and remain a complex challenge for the Scottish Government and central government bodies".

"While steps have been taken to improve, and overcome obstacles such as the shortage of ICT skills in the public sector, the report shows that significant progress is still needed," she added.

In an echo of the recent IT woes Gov.uk hit with payments to farmers, Scotland's audit office warned earlier this year of major problems with the country's IT programme for rural payments.

The IT Futures Programme, designed to implement Common Agricultural Policy payments, will cost £178m, up 74 per cent from the original forecast, it said.

The Scottish government has also come under fire from privacy campaigners, accusing it of introducing a national database through the backdoor.

In March, Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) voted narrowly in favour of opening up the country's NHS register to hundreds of public bodies.

The SNP has argued the scheme will be key to underpinning a "digital government".

However, the amount Scotland splashes on technology is still a fraction of what Blighty as a whole spends. In 2013/14, the Scottish public sector spent £739m on suppliers of ICT-related goods and services of which at least £153m was central government spend, said the report. ®

More about

More about

More about

TIP US OFF

Send us news


Other stories you might like