The scale of the problems facing large government information technology projects was underlined yesterday as Treasury figures revealed delays totalling more than 17 years.

The fresh details, which came in response to a parliamentary question by the -Liberal Democrats, emerged against the background of a two-year delay to the vast £12.4bn upgrade of the National Health Service's IT systems and as the -government prepares to launch the procurement process for its national -identity card project, which is slated to cost £5.4bn.