MPs: Prisons database worst of a bad bunch
Influential commons committee describes single prison database system as a "shambles"
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By Adam Leveridge
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Tuesday, 03, Nov 2009 12:07
An influential Commons committee has described the single prison database system designed to manage offenders as a "shambles".
The chair of the public accounts committee said even members "injured to the dismal procession of government IT failures which have passed before us" were surprised at the extent of the failure of C-NOMIS.
The committee said the project, formed to institute a single database to manage individual offenders through the prison and probation systems, was overambitious and had broadly failed in its aims.
Its members called the system "out of control" and also criticised poor planning, poor financial monitoring, inadequate supplier management and too little control over changes.
The committee examined why the C-NOMIS project, which had been intended to deliver a single offender management IT system across the prison and probation services, "failed badly", and what the National Offender Management System (NOMS) had done to retrieve the situation through a redesigned NOMIS programme.
Edward Leigh MP, chairman of the committee, said today: "NOMS, the body managing the project, was formed in 2004 from the merger of two complex and very different organisations. This placed a severe strain on senior managers' ability to deliver such a major project.
"The scale and complexity of what had to be delivered were underestimated; a culture of over-optimism held sway, not subject to rigorous and sceptical challenge; costs were grossly underestimated; there was a lack of capacity and experience among senior staff; and too much reliance was placed on a few key individuals. Financial management was deficient to the extent that costs and progress were not monitored or reported for the first three years."
Mr Leigh went on to say that there had not even been a minimum level of planning and execution in the project; which was delayed by three years and doubled in cost.
He added: "This project has been a shambles. We now expect the substantial progress in its implementation promised by NOMS to be capable of being demonstrated satisfactorily to a future hearing of the committee."
The changes had been designed to improve the supervision of individual offenders throughout their sentence by a single offender manager, whether the sentence was served in prison or in the community.
In response to the committee's report a Ministry of Justice spokesperson said:"We note the contents of this report and will respond fully in due course.
"The C-NOMIS project was stopped when it was recognised that it was going to be over-budget and late. Steps have been taken to ensure that the mistakes made are not repeated.
"The work done so far has not been lost but is being used as the basis of the revised NOMIS programme. This will support our commitment to ensuring that Prison and Probation Service staff have improved access to the information they need to protect the public by managing offenders in custody and in the community.
"The prison element of the programme commenced roll out to public sector prisons on May 22nd 2009 and is on schedule to complete in summer 2010."