Health secretary Andrew Lansley is understood to be drawing up plans for a dedicated central unit to house billions of pounds of 'toxic' IT-contract exposures says the Guardian.

The IT project, which was the subject of a swingeing report from the MPs' public accounts committee last week, is also believed to be top of cabinet office minister Francis Maude's list of government procurements he wants officials to revisit.

Maude's Major Projects Authority, which is reviewing several large government contracts, last week sent tough proposals to the prime minister setting out recommendations on how years of information technology delays and contract disputes in the NHS could be resolved in the best interests of taxpayers. Lansley recently described the programme, the largest non-military IT project ever undertaken, as an "expensive farce". He is expected to announce a new structure for health service IT within weeks.