back to article Brit civil service claims there's enough money for mammoth ERP refresh project

One of the UK's top civil servants has claimed the government is closing the £100 million funding gap created by the Treasury when it offered £300 million for a vital ERP refresh in the November 2021 spending review. Speaking to MPs, the chief operating officer for the civil service and permanent secretary for the Cabinet …

  1. elsergiovolador Silver badge

    IR35

    All big consultancies aboard the gravy train! Choo choo!

    1. Dr Fidget

      Re: IR35

      Especially if they make nice big donations to the Conservative Party

      1. SundogUK Silver badge

        Re: IR35

        A friend of mine consulted for the government when Labour were last in charge and they were worse than the Conservatives have ever been.

        1. anonymous boring coward Silver badge

          Re: IR35

          "when Labour were last in charge and they were worse than the Conservatives have ever been"

          How can he know?

  2. 0x80004005

    Think of a number

    No, higher than that.

    1. Natalie Gritpants Jr

      Re: Think of a number

      Whatever it is, it will end up twice that and late.

      1. Potemkine! Silver badge

        Re: Think of a number

        You really think it will end someday?

  3. ColinPa Silver badge

    Free bar!

    It would be a good time to have a "reunion" of all of the major projects over the last 15 years to remind each other of the "lessons learned" that may not have been implemented.

    A free bar would more than pay for itself, to get people talking about the projects in a relaxed atmosphere, and where they may become more indiscrete than usual

  4. Roj Blake Silver badge

    NHS

    So *that's* where the money for the nurses' pay rise went then (in addition to Dido Harding's offshore account).

  5. s. pam
    Mushroom

    my B.S. dector just exploded

    how can they have any hope of having an ERP system when the NHS is still working in isolated silos ON PAPER??

    1. Big Softie

      Re: my B.S. dector just exploded

      ...with fax machines

  6. JimC

    Its a Red Queen's Race

    As soon as you go for buying packages instead of in house development you're forced into this Red Queen's race of upgrades no-one wants to provide extra functionality no-one needs at eye watering cost using money you'd much rather spend on something more productive. But what's the alternative? I doubt any government department has the capability any more to run a pure in house application development team, even if doing so was actually affordable, and outsourcing development of a from scratch custom system to the likes of Capita or Fujitsu or whoever sounds remarkably like the worst of both worlds.

  7. Pascal Monett Silver badge

    ERP. Again.

    Didn't we just leave this party ?

    Also : isn't it astonishing that the civil service suddenly has £300 million lying around for this ?

    Oh, silly me. Sir Humphry's cousin thrice removed hasn't yet had a chance to partake of the trough. Happy snouting !

  8. Chris Coles

    Once Upon a Time we did these things for ourselves

    When we once needed battleships for the Navy, we built them for ourselves; , when we needed aircraft to defend the nation we built them for ourselves; when we needed a computer to track the messages of our enemies, we built it for ourselves; when we needed radar to track the movement of aircraft attacking our nation, we built them ourselves. The United Kingdom once had an exceptional ability to invent, design and manufacture whatever we needed. Not only that, but we were the leaders in such industries. We created them; ships; railways, aircraft, computers, radar, nuclear power stations. . . you name it, we invented it, designed it and manufactured it. So what went wrong?

    All I can do here is challenge everyone to present herein their understanding of the decisions that have, very effectively, destroyed our capability to remain a world leading manufacturer of whatever we need to remain competitive. Come on, everyone, Why?

    1. anonymous boring coward Silver badge

      Re: Once Upon a Time we did these things for ourselves

      "Come on, everyone, Why?"

      Voting for cretins hell bent on making a quick buck for themselves, not giving a fig about normal people.

      Adoring real estate investment as magic money makers.

      Looking down on engineers and other makers willing to get their hands a bit dirty, while admiring nonsense spouting academics.

      Feeling inferior to your "betters" thanks to the ingrained class society, but voting as if you were better than others.

      Shall I go on?

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Once Upon a Time we did these things for ourselves

      Because the people with power are Russian fifth columnists.

      Putin is delighted with their success.

  9. NeilPost

    H O L E E E F U CK !!!

    Will make Edinburgh Uni look like a walk in the park.

    Though a simple, standards based, reusable framework with common interfaces to partners API’s etc across UK Public service would be a good idea.

    Come back CCTA - all is forgiven !!!

  10. anonymous boring coward Silver badge

    Should I know what "ERP" means?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Enormous rotting pile.

    2. steviesteveo

      That's an unexpectedly profound question. On balance I'd say it's a shibboleth. I would wonder what someone's IT experience covered if they hadn't absorbed that one by osmosis. E stands for enterprise so it might also be a small company v big company marker

      Enterprise resource planning is just one of these bread and butter concepts that sits in the background and quietly makes the world go round

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Systemanalyse und Programmentwicklung

    Some background:

    https://retool.com/blog/erp-for-engineers/

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