The government's tax credit scheme was branded "a shambles" yesterday after it was alleged that the cost of fraud and poor administration was likely to be more than £9bn in its first three years - 50% more than previous estimates. http…

It is being reported on the BBC that the introduction of the Home Improvement Packs will be delayed. DCLG Secretary, Ruth Kelly, is expected to make an annoucement... more later... UPDATE:  The introduction of HIPs has been put back…

Metronet, the consortium who are currently cocking up the upgrade of much of the London Underground system, are looking to take £600m of public money to cover their over-running costs.  The extremely complicated PPP contract that was signed…

The debate over David Willetts' accidentally controversial speech on education continues to rumble on. As Willetts and Cameron have themselves kept the debate alive, through Willetts' appearance on Sunday AM, and David Cameron's…

One of the things that America does better than us Europeans is its inclination to give (at least in business) another chance to those who at first don't succeed. Whilst bankruptcy is seen in Europe as evidence that someone is not to be…

The first high profile casualty of the NHS online recruitment fiasco has hit.  The chairman of the British Medical Association, James Johnson, has resigned after he was accused of being too close to the Government on the issue.  Mr Johnson…

The chairman of the British Medical Association, James Johnson, resigned suddenly last night over accusations that he was siding with the government in the debacle over training jobs for junior doctors. Mr Johnson said the criticism of him…

Michael Portillo wrote an interesting article in yesterday's Sunday Times. He seems to share a similar ethos to Picking Losers in many ways. I have taken a small extracts from the piece and published them below. Much of the article talks…

Government Only 30% of government technology-based projects and programmes are successful, the official in charge of IT at one of its biggest departments has warned. Joe Harley, chief information officer at the Department for Work and…

Government   A controversial bill exempting MPs and peers from freedom of information laws has moved closer to being passed. Cross-party opponents had hoped to "talk out" the bill by using up all its allocated time in the Commons. But after…

The government can not do IT projects.  Not a revelation to regular readers of Picking Losers, but even civil servants are now accepting the hard facts.  Joe Harley, chief information officer and the official in charge of IT at the…

Government   The Government is severely criticised today by a Labour-dominated Commons committee for failing to back its own inquiry on A-level and GCSE reform. MPs on the Education Select Committee say exam reforms would be "more coherent…