Think spectacular waste on government IT projects is a thing of the past thanks to Francis Maude? Think again. The government has wasted £107 million on failed IT projects over the last year according a report released today by the Taxpayers’ Alliance. Here are the headline acts of Whitehall IT incompetence:

• A numpty in the Department of Health didn’t negotiate a reduction in service charge to an IT contact in case sites were decommissioned early. Cost to the tax payer £4,707,543.

• The Department for Work and Pensions paid for a computer system that would allow benefits claimants to claim online. The ‘MyBOL’ project has been made largely redundant by the rollout of Universal Credit. Cost to the tax payer £27,172,000.

• The big daddy of IT cock ups over the last year was the failed attempt by the Ministry of Justice to develop a centralised HR system in house. Their efforts have been made redundant by the new government wide Next Generation Shared Services strategy. Cost to taxpayer £56,300,000.

£107 million could have paid the wages of an extra 5,002 nurses for the year…