iPhone Apps Cost UK Government Thousands

Ever wondered where a massive portion of your tax cash is going? How about a large portion going towards developing government applications for the Apple iPhone? Seems the UK government has nothing better to do with our cash than to spend thousands of pounds on app development.

According to the BBC, a Freedom of Information request has shown that development costs which include a Foreign Office travel advice app and a jobseeker’s tool range from £10,000 to £40,000, even though the Home Office has declined to give info on their iPhone applications stating security concerns.

A few weeks ago the UK government said they are to conduct a review of their 820 websites, and a report by the Central Office of Information shows our government spent a whopping £94 million on website development and running costs and during 2009 – 2010 £32 million was spent on web staff.

As of the end of May, the jobseeker’s application had been downloaded 53,000 times, and critics have remarked why would someone who can afford an iPhone along with the costly running costs of the device require a jobseeker’s application, and furthermore there have been reports the app doesn’t work on iOS 4.

The campaign director for the Tax Payers’ Alliance, Mark Wallace told the BBC, “It seems many Government bodies have given in to the temptation to spend money on fashionable gimmicks at a time when they are meant to be slicing back on self-indulgent wastes of money.”It is ridiculous not only that they are commissioning these apps but that some of them are supposedly secret on grounds of national security. Someone who is faced with losing their home because of high tax bills, or whose life is being ruined by crime isn’t going to get any reassurance from knowing there’s an app for that.”

Apparently the Cabinet Office statement to the BBC said that the government has recently announced a freeze on advertising and marketing including iPhone apps for this year.

iPhone Apps Cost UK Government Thousands

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