UK - Criminal justice computer scheme delayed

Staff and agencies Thursday June 28, 2001

The lord chancellor, Lord Irvine of Lairg, has been forced to delay a £319m scheme to computerise the criminal justice system because of technical problems, it emerged last night. The postponement of the scheme to shift court work from paper to screens is the latest in a long line of troubled Whitehall information technology projects.

The government has previously been embarrassed by the failure of a £100m "case working system" for the nationality directorate and problems with a new £230m system for issuing passports.

There was a breakdown during the computerisation of the national insurance recording system, and the summer of 1999 saw widespread discontent as passport seekers were forced to endure queues and delays as the system was changed over.

The cost so far of computerising the courts, at £319m, already exceeds the original estimate of £183m announced to parliament.

Full implementation, which had been scheduled to start in July, has been postponed indefinitely, according to Computer Weekly magazine.

Contracts between the lord chancellor's department and ICL, which is managing the project, have been extended by four years to 12 years.

The department told the Times that work is continuing on the project, but that problems have arisen with the software, which has proved "more complex" to develop than expected.

http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,513825,00.html

-- Anonymous, June 28, 2001

Answers

This is one the more enduring Y2K glitches.
Too bad that they feel the need to shirk
their reporting to exclude the reason for
these upgrades.

-- Anonymous, July 02, 2001