IT in the UK public sector is under intense scrutiny and needs to deliver better results: much investment has been made which has too often failed to deliver. Projects have a history of being protracted and complex, offering significant challenges to all involved. The questions being asked are: has the government lost its way? does it really know how to obtain success from these big projects? This paper looks at the challenges posed by public sector IT and suggests better ways of managing these projects to deliver benefits quickly.