'Greater stewardship'

The National Audit Office's report is entitled Delivering Successful IT-Enabled Business Change.

It says government departments, local authorities and other public bodies should ask themselves a number of key questions before authorising a new computer project.

The nine questions include whether the public body in question can ensure effective leadership of a new IT project, how clear it is about what new system it requires, and what benefits it will bring.

"Many of our recommendations focus on the need for greater stewardship and accountability within individual government departments and across Whitehall more generally," says the report.

It also highlights what it sees as a need for greater public transparency.

Despite the problems with new NHS computer networks and the well-publicised difficulties at the Child Support Agency, the National Audit Office points to 24 examples of good practice.

These range from the introduction of the Oyster card system on public transport in London, the National Transport Database and the Pension Service's Pension Credit system.