Former Social Security bosses Owen Le Tissier, left and Mary Lowe, right, were involved in the department’s move from a mainframe computer system to a modern PC server-based one. (Montage by John O’Neill, 0539440)
SOCIAL SECURITY has gone £3m. over budget with its new computer system.
In what is seen as another blow to public confidence the department, which did not have to inform the States of the project or of its costs, has overseen a massive overspend on a project that is still not finished.
An additional estimate of £1.456m. in internal costs has been excluded in the total figure.
The overspend has led a Public Accounts Committee enquiry to recommend that the department’s autonomy over its budget should be scrapped.
The Policy Council and the Treasury Department have supported this move.
Minister for Treasury and Resources Lyndon Trott was critical.
‘My department is concerned at the outcome of the project and the damage it will inevitably cause to public confidence with regards to government departments’ ability to deliver such projects on time and within budget.’
He accepted that the department had the power to undertake capital projects without States approval, but insisted that a more corporate approach would have been appropriate.
Social Security’s move to a PC-server system began in 1998, headed by the then president of the Social Security Authority, Deputy Owen Le Tissier.
Authority member Mary Lowe took over as minister for the department in 2004, following a review of the machinery of government, until she was ousted from the position in March 2006 after the Fallagate affair.
Current minister Diane Lewis disputed the reported cost of the overspend but made no apology for it or the 18-month delay in going ‘live’ with the project.
She said that the department’s investment in IT was not unreasonable when viewed against the Jersey States’ computer development and network cost of £14.04m.
‘The implications of any serious failure after going live were so profound that the department would not take that risk until it was fully satisfied with the testing,’ said Deputy Lewis.
PAC’s report, published in the Billet today, details the findings of a highly critical report by PricewaterhouseCoopers on the implementation of the Guernsey-integrated Social Security System.
It contains 30 recommendations to be adopted for IT and other projects within the States.
The most significant is a change to the Social Insurance (Guernsey) Law, 1978, that allows Social Security to undertake capital projects with no accountability to the States.
The report heavily criticises the department for being late with the project, for its overspend, incompleteness and for not following best practice.
‘There is a lack of openness and transparency on this project, which is against the principal of accountability and good corporate governance,’ said the committee’s chairman Leon Gallienne.
However, Deputy Lewis said Social Security had found it hard to get across to the committee that the project was started in the knowledge that an evolutionary approach would be taken and that costs were indicative and not fixed.
‘So it’s frustrating to see the PAC report present its findings as an overspend,’ she said.
Article posted on 22nd February, 2008 - 2.30pm
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I much prefer the “0ld” way of presenting the news.
It is easier to work, and gives more detail.
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